Obituaries – Page 16 – The Mississippi Link

Funeral services held for Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland in Memphis

Funeral services for soul-blues singer Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland were held Thursday, June 27, at First Baptist Church at 2835 Broad Ave., in Memphis.

Bland, a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as “Turn on Your Love Light” and “Further On Up the Road,” died Sunday. He was 83.

Rodd Bland said his father died due to complications from an ongoing illness at his Memphis home. He was surrounded by relatives. […]

Former McComb mayor dead at 96

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Former McComb Mayor Newton Haskin James, a white businessman who was among a bi-racial group of community leaders who worked to ease tensions during the civil rights movement in 1960s, has died at the age of 96.

Officials with Hartman-Sharkey Funeral Home say James died Thursday, June 13, at Beacham Memorial Hospital in Magnolia. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, June 17, at J. J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in McComb. Burial will follow in Hollywood Cemetery. […]

Jean Stapleton, TV’s Edith Bunker, dies at 90

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Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker was such a dithery charmer that we had to love her. And because she loved her bombastic husband Archie, we made room for him and TV’s daring “All in the Family.”

It took an actress as smart and deft as Stapleton to create the character that Archie called “dingbat,” giving a tender core to a sitcom that tested viewers with its bigoted American family man and blunt take on social issues.

Stapleton, 90, who died Friday, May 31, of natural causes at her New York City home, was the sweet, trusting counterpoint to Carroll O’Connor’s irascible Archie on the 1970s groundbreaking show from producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. […]

Don Pelts, founder of Corky's, dies in Memphis

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Don Pelts, who founded the Memphis-based barbecue restaurant Corky’s Ribs and Bar-B-Q and helped increase the popularity of the savory food style with a shipping and supermarket sales business, has died, a relative said Thursday.

Pelts’ son, Barry Pelts, said his father died Wednesday night, May 15, of a heart attack at age 72.

Pelts opened the first Corky’s in Memphis in 1984, serving ribs and hand-pulled pork cooked over hickory wood and charcoal. According to the company’s website, Corky’s catering business started within a year of the first restaurant’s opening. […]

Alyne Payton, Walter Payton’s mom, dies after long illness

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Alyne S. Payton, the mother of the late NFL Hall of Fame running back and Chicago Bears star Walter Payton, died Monday at Baptist Medical Center in Jackson. She was 87.

Family members say she died after a long illness.

Officials with Westhaven Memorial Funeral Home said services were scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, May 10 at Black’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson. Burial was Saturday in Resthaven Cemetery in Columbia. […]

Annette Funicello, Mouseketeer and film star, dies

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Annette Funicello, who became a child star as a perky, cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, then teamed up with Frankie Avalon on a string of `60s fun-in-the-sun movies with names like “Beach Blanket Bingo” and “Bikini Beach,” died Monday. She was 70.

She died at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California, of complications from multiple sclerosis, the Walt Disney Co. said.

Funicello stunned fans and friends in 1992 with the announcement about her ailment. Yet she was cheerful and upbeat, grappling with the disease with a courage that contrasted with her lightweight teen image of old. […]

Widow of critic Roger Ebert said she is ‘devastated’

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In a blog post, the widow of famed film critic Roger Ebert said she was devastated by the loss of her love.

Chaz Ebert posted her thoughts on Ebert’s blog hours after her husband died Thursday, April 4, after a long battle with cancer.

Funeral services for 70-year-old Ebert were held Monday at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. His wife spoke fondly of their relationship to the crowd in attendance.

Just after his death, Chaz wrote she had lost the love of her life and the world has lost a visionary, creative and generous spirit. Chaz, an attorney, and Ebert were married in 1992. […]

Olen Burrage, suspect in 1964 Klan slayings, dies

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Olen Burrage, who was acquitted in the case of three civil rights workers killed by Ku Klux Klansmen in Mississippi in the 1960s, has died. He was 82.

Burrage died Friday March 8 at a hospital, the McClain-Hays Funeral Home Chapel said. The funeral home did not release a cause of death.

Burrage owned land in Neshoba County in central Mississippi where the three civil rights workers were buried under an earthen dam after members of the white supremacist KKK killed them in 1964. He said he knew nothing about the killings and was acquitted of conspiracy in 1967. […]

Ex-boyfriend: Mindy McCready left rehab too soon

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Mindy McCready threatened to kill herself after losing custody of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program days before she apparently killed herself, her ex-boyfriend said.

Billy McKnight, who was in a long, rocky relationship with McCready and who is the father of her oldest child, Zander, said the 37-year-old mother of two stayed in the in-patient substance abuse treatment center for about 18 hours before being allowed to walk free.

Authorities say McCready died in an apparent suicide Sunday, Feb. 17, at her home in Heber Springs, a vacation community north of Little Rock. Sheriff Marty Moss said McCready was found dead on the front porch where her boyfriend, musician David Wilson, died last month of a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators are investigating his death as a suicide, but haven’t yet determined his cause of death. […]

Former USM professor dead at 69

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– In the past two weeks, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has suffered great losses. The tornado that ripped through the front of the campus on Feb. 10 uprooted trees, destroyed buildings and altered many lives.

“But our beloved University has incurred an equally devastating loss with the passing of Dr. Gene Wiggins,” said Van Arnold, of USM Office of Communications.

Wiggins, who was director of the USM’s School of Communication for 20 years, died Thursday, Feb. 21, at his home in Hattiesburg.

Wiggins was 69. […]