August 21, 2003
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 21, 2003
The Vicksburg Post prints obituaries for residents, former residents and residents’ immediate family members who resided elsewhere when notified by a family member or a funeral home. There is no charge for printing an obituary, but all are edited to meet the newspaper’s requirements.
Charles C. Noble
Charles C. Noble, a retired major general in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, died Aug. 16, 2003, in McLean, Va. He was 87.
Maj. Gen. Noble served as president of the Mississippi River Commission from September 1971 to August 1974. While serving as MRC president, as well as commander of what was then called the Lower Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps of Engineers, Maj. Gen. Noble guided the lower Mississippi Valley through the Flood of 1973. In January of that year, he ordered the acceleration of a planned valley-wide flood fight exercise to rehearse personnel in the activities they would be expected to perform in an actual flood emergency. The dress rehearsal paid valuable dividends during the flood fight.
Maj. Gen. Noble is also remembered for making the difficult and controversial decision to open the Morganza Floodway for the only time since it was completed in 1954. The floodway was designed to protect New Orleans from flooding and reduce the levees along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers.
It was also during the Flood of 1973 that Maj. Gen. Noble was confronted with the potential failure of the Old River Control Structure when a part collapsed because of excessive scour. He recognized that opening Morganza was the only way to relieve pressure on Old River and prevent the Atchafalaya from capturing the Mississippi River.
Maj. Gen. Noble was a native of Syracuse, N.Y., and a 1940 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he received a bachelor’s degree. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1948. He was also a graduate of the Army War College, National War College and George Washington University.
During World War II, he was a battalion commander in Europe. After the war, he served as executive officer in the Manhattan Project, deputy executive secretary of the Military Liaison Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission, plans officer at the Department of the Army and at Supreme Headquarters in Europe. Later he was assistant district engineer in the New York District and district engineer for the Louisville District.
After directing construction of Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile facilities in the western United States, he was engineer for the United Nations Command and Eighth U.S. Army in Korea. He also served as director of the Southeast Asia Construction Office, Secretary of Defense, director of civil works in the Office of Chief of Engineers where he was also on the Atlantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission, engineer for the U.S. Army in Europe and as Engineer Command, Vietnam and commanding general of the U.S. Army Engineer Command.
Following his retirement from the Army in 1974, Maj. Gen. Noble joined the Charles T. Main Engineering Co. of Boston and retired in 1984 as president and chief executive officer.
He is survived by three daughters, Jeanne Davey, Barbara O’Looney and Carol Noble; one son, Stephen Noble, a retired Army lieutenant colonel; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery Oct. 1.
Juanita C. Ezell
TALLULAH Juanita C. Ezell died Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003, at River Region Medical Center. She was 80.
Mrs. Ezell was born in Crowville and had lived in Madison Parish since 1947. A homemaker, she was a member of Parkview Baptist Church in Tallulah.
She was preceded in death by her husband, James Lovie Ezell, and a grandson, Jimmy Devone Ezell Jr.
Survivors include two sons, Jimmy Devone Ezell of Tallulah and Freddy G. Ezell of St. Martinville, La.; a sister, Ethelene Shivers of Crowville; a brother, W.H. Covington of Irving, Texas; and two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Services were at 10 a.m. today at Crothers-Glenwood Funeral Home in Tallulah with the Rev. John W. Rushing officiating. Burial followed at Crowville Masonic Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Tilford Watts Jr., Jeff Watts, Bo Kendrick, Billy Ray Hodge, Kevin Purvis and Joseph Purvis.
Martha M. Garner
Martha M. Garner died Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003, at Claiborne County Nursing Home. She was 97.
A homemaker, Mrs. Garner was of the Baptist faith.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Leathan Monroe, and a brother, Edward Monroe.
She is survived by nieces, including Bessie Sanders of Port Gibson and Rosie Lee Perkins, Ella Kent and Dorothy Woodson, all of Vicksburg.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Cedar Hill Cemetery with the Rev. Will Moffett officiating. Burial will follow under the direction of W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home.
Ruby Lee McCarthy
Services for Ruby Lee McCarthy were at 11 a.m. today at Cedar Hill Cemetery with the Rev. Kent Campbell, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church, officiating. Burial followed under the direction of Riles Funeral Home.
Mrs. McCarthy died Monday, Aug. 18, 2003, at Heritage House Nursing Home. She was 70.
A native of Copiah County, Mrs. McCarthy had been a Vicksburg resident for the past 60 years. She retired as the animal control officer for the City of Vicksburg and was a member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary.
She attended Woodlawn Baptist Church, where she was a member of the Senior Saints.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Virgil M. McCarthy Jr., and 12 siblings.
Survivors include two daughters, Kay Goss and Linda Holman, both of Vicksburg; three sons, Jerry McCarthy and James McCarthy, both of Vicksburg, and Mack McCarthy of Vancleave; and nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers were Arnot Geary, Herbert White, Hank Hodges, Darrel Rushing, Gary Jones and Gus Grimshel.
Memorials may be made to the Vicksburg-Warren Humane Society, P.O. Box 820171, Vicksburg, MS 39182.
Wallace Perkins
ANGUILLA Wallace Perkins died Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003, at Sharkey-Issaquena Hospital in Rolling Fork. He was 87.
Mr. Perkins was a lifelong resident of Anguilla. He was a retired commercial fisherman and trapper.
He is survived by a son, J.W. Perkins of Anguilla; two daughters, Mollie Dew of Anguilla and Gale Rivers of Bolton; two brothers, Clyde Perkins of Tallula, Miss., and Newton Perkins of Weatherford, Texas; one sister, Susie Terry of Baton Rouge; and eight grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Anguilla United Methodist Church with the Rev. James Milner and Russell Stewart officiating. Burial will follow at Golden Link Cemetery in Anguilla.
Visitation will be from 5 until 8 tonight at Glenwood Funeral Home in Rolling Fork.
Pallbearers will be grandsons.
Honorary pallbearers will be J.M. Brown, Charles Ray McPhail, Charlie Williams and Jerry Martin.