NEW ALBANY — Bobby Jo Blackburn Jr., a former resident of Vicksburg, died Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008, at Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo. He was 55. Born in Anniston, Ala., he grew up in Alabama and McGehee, Ark., where he graduated from high school. Mr. Blackburn worked for 32 years for the Vicksburg Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

He was a member of the Fredonia Baptist Church near New Albany, where he was a member of the Senior Adult Sunday School Class. He also was a member of the Tupelo Luncheon Civitan Club and held memberships in the North Mississippi Corvette Club and the North Mississippi Cruiser’s Car Club.

Mr. Blackburn was preceded in death by his parents Bobby Joe Blackburn Sr. and Billie Lee Heffington Blackburn Nagel, and brother Hal Reynolds Blackburn. Survivors include his wife, Donna Row Blackburn of New Albany; three daughters, Jamie Blackburn and Jessie Blackburn, both of Grand Bay, Ala., and Angela Norris Miller of Germantown, Tenn.; two sons, Joseph Blackburn of Hollywood, Fla., and Phillip Norris of Tupelo; three sisters, Kathy Barnes of McGehee, Susie Blackburn Mitchell of Enterprise, Ala., and Judy Bonaford of Monticello, Ark; three brothers, Joe Blackburn of Enterprise, Robert Blackburn of Sarasota, Fla., and Buddy Nagel of Clinton, Ark.; his stepfather, Freddie Nagel of Halley, Ark.; his stepmother Judy Blackburn of Enterprise; and three grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the Tupelo Chapel of Holland- Harris Funeral Directors with Drs. Chris Aldridge and Mark Cayson officiating. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until the service, with burial to follow at Masonic Cemetery in Amory.

Pallbearers will be Bob Smith, Kevin Pace, Sam Horton, Ronnie Mills, Jeffrey Lockwood and Rosendo Pulido.

Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Tupelo Luncheon Civitan Club and the Corvette and Cruisers’ car clubs.

Memorials may be made to Sanctuary Hospice House, P.O. Box 2177, Tupelo, MS, 38802; Tupelo- Lee Humane Society, P.O. Box 1185, Tupelo, MS, 38802; American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 1, Tupelo, MS, 38801; or the Bureau of Land Management Wild Mustang and Burrow Recovery Program.