Services for Velma Rose Dates Bester will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at New Mount Pilgrim M.B. Church with the Rev. Henry J. Williams officiating. Burial will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be from noon until 5 p.m. Saturday at Lakeview Memorial Funeral Home with family present from 4 until 5.

Mrs. Bester died Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, at River Region Medical Center. She was 79.

Born in Poplarville, Mrs. Bester had lived in Vicksburg for more than 50 years. She was a retired homemaker and a member of New Mount Pilgrim M.B. Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Ruth and Zella Dates; one brother, Oscar Dates; two sisters, Lucile Gilmore and Dellina Petterson; and a great-grandson, Maurice Morris.

She is survived by five daughters, Idella Price, Rosemary Parson, Moise Bester Dixon, Zella Mae Leggett and Annie Morgan, all of Vicksburg; two sons, Lonnie Dates of Miami, Fla., and Mannie Bester of Vicksburg; her companion, Walter Dunbar of Vicksburg; a brother, Bobby Dates of Poplarville; a sister, Charline Dates of Beebe, Ark.; 21 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.