Carl M. Upton, 81, died Saturday, April 2, 2011, at River Region Medical Center.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 6, 2011, at Frank J. Fisher Funeral Home with the Revs. Bryan Ivey and James Messer officiating. Burial with Masonic Rites will be at Bay Springs Cemetery at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Visitation will be from 6 until 8 tonight at the funeral home and at 9 a.m. Wednesday until the service.

Mr. Upton was born in Bay Springs and finished high school, moved to Jackson where he joined the I.B.E.W. apprenticeship program for electricians. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force after four years he returned to electrical work through I.B.E.W. Local 480 in Jackson. He was a member of the Highland Baptist Church in Vicksburg and the Blue Lodge in Bolton. He was a Master Mason, a Shriner and a member of the American Legion.

He was preceded in death by his father, William Charles Jefferson Upton; his mother, Mattie Jewel Dawkins Upton; sisters, Mattie J. Hollingsworth and Bernice Upton; brothers, Marc B. Read, Chalmers Upton, Curtis Upton, Camillus Upton, Cranford Upton, Cecil Upton, Claude Upton and Conrad Upton.

Survivors include his wife, Betty Upton of Vicksburg; sons, Carl Marshall Upton Jr. (Pat) of Vicksburg, Charles Jeffrey Upton (Sonya) of Natchez and Craig William Upton (Debra) of Clinton; six grandchildren, Carl Upton III, Caleb Upton, Cameron Upton, Caitlyn Upton, Casey Upton and Codey Upton; sisters, Nettie R. Mangum of Bay Springs, Bonnie J. Witt of Port Charlotte, Fla., Hilda F. Jernigan of Soso; and a number of nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Wayne Speirs, Laverne Tucker, Bubba Tatum, Buster Sullivan, Buddy Eady, Ronnie Kellum, Wilson Meadows and Ford Emery.

Honorary pallbearers will be J.W. Carroll, John Smith, Doyle Purvis, Cameron Upton, Caleb Upton, Carl Upton, Ned Walker and Dan Blackledge.