Archives
 By  Staff Reports Published 
4:23 pm Monday, January 15, 2001

OBITUARIES FOR MONDAY, JAN. 15, 2001

By Staff
TERESA FAYE RONCALI TAYLOR
Nurse
FOREST Services for Teresa Faye Roncali Taylor were held today at 10 a.m. at First Apostolic Church of Newton. Burial will be in Pine Ridge Baptist Cemetery in Lake with Ott and Lee Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Taylor, 36, of Philadelphia, died Friday, Jan. 12, 2001, in her home. She had been a resident of Philadelphia for the past year, formerly living in Newton where she had lived most of her life. She was a member of the First Apostolic Church of Newton.
Survivors include a son, Sonny Taylor, two daughters, Stormy Lynn Taylor and Angel James Marie Taylor, all of Philadelphia; her mother, Sherry Roncali, her father, James Roncali, both of Newton; a brother, Carlos Roncali of Lawrence; a sister, Mary Ann Morgan of Quitman; and her paternal grandfather, Frank Roncali of Newton.
RUBYE MERLE VANCE HARRISON
Retired
Services for Rubye Merle Vance Harrison will be held today at 11:30 a.m. at Barham Funeral Home chapel with the Rev. Claude Fleming officiating. Burial will be in Hopewell Baptist Church Cemetery in Little Rock.
Mrs. Harrison, 73, of Meridian, died Friday, Jan. 12, 2001, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center. She was an active member of Highland Methodist Church for more than 45 years and was involved in all the activities of the church. She helped organize the children church and was a teacher. She was also a children's Sunday school teacher and worked with the young people of the church and Vacation Bible School every summer. She was a member of the United Methodist Women, having helped in several offices including that of president several times. She also served on the administration board and Council of Ministries and many committees. When there was a need at Highland, Rubye could be counted on to help. In the work at Wesley House Community Center, she visited the sick and in-active members. Rubye was a member of Prospect Sunday School Class and was truly a Christian in every sense of the word. She was honored with a special award by the state and national societies of The Daughters of the American Revolution and was presented a special membership recognition pin for her research and assistance to current and prospective DAR members. Since 1996, Rubye has recruited and helped 11 Daughters become members through genealogy research. A chapter member since 1983, she had served as chairman of Good Citizen, DAR Scholarship, transportation &safety and chapter by-laws. She currently served as charter librarian and chairman of the membership and lineage research committee. She was a trained genealogist and faithful volunteer of the Lauderdale County History and Archives for more than 10 years. She spent more than 1,500 hours to further genealogy research at the archives. These projects include the recording of United Postal Saving project for 1930-1940 and the reading and transcribing of old census tapes so they could be printed in volumes for public access. She was always ready and willing to help people who came in searching for information on family, school, marriage, church or Civil War records. She also served as a board member of the George Tucker Patriot Descendants Association. Her most current project was compiling a book of Collinsville, Martin and Shamberville communities to be published in May. Rubye had volunteered at Meridian/Lauderdale Public Library, planning public genealogy seminars and teaching private genealogy classes. She organized a book of general information and forms for beginning genealogists. She helped establish the genealogy computer class at Meridian Community College in 1992, the only such group in the state. There are many evidences of her presence and love of genealogy within the walls of the Meridian/Lauderdale County Archives.
Survivors include her husband, Charles Lewis Harrison of Meridian; three sons, Charles Lewis Harrison Jr. and his wife, June, of Jackson, Roger Dale of Harrison and his wife, Carol of Brandon, and Robert David "Bobby" Harrison and his wife, Debbie, of Meridian; two sisters, Geraldine Ethridge and her husband, Ike, of Collinsville and Wanda Richmond and her husband, Randy, of Pensacola, Fla.; two brothers, Joe R. Vance and his wife, Mary Edith, of Perry, Ga. and Edward E. "Sonny" Vance and his wife, Merle, of Collinsville, a sister-in-law, Marie Vance of New Jersey; nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by a brother, Roger Roland Vance.
The family requests memorials be made to the Daughters of the American Revolution, C/O Geraldine Ethridge, 626-8525.
Visitation will be Monday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at the funeral home.
RELLA MAE TAYLOR GILMORE
BAY ST. LOUIS Services for Rella Mae Taylor Gilmore will be held today at 2 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church. Burial will be in Garden of Memory Cemetery with Edmond Fahey Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Gilmore, 92, of Bay St. Louis, died Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001, in Bay St. Louis. She was a native of Lauderdale County and a resident of Bay St. Louis. She was of the Episcopal faith and a member of Christ Episcopal Church.
Survivors include two sons, Gary Taylor and his wife, Lynda, and James W. Gilmore and his wife, Astrid; six grandchildren, Taylor Gilmore, Sean Gilmore, Ginger Gilmore, Alexis Gilmore and Jennika Gilmore; thee great-grandchildren, Jackson Gilmore, Reed Gilmore and Tommie Lynn Gilmore; and several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Moss A. Gilmore; her parents, James Marion and Callie Jones Taylor; three brothers, Les M. Taylor, Pete Taylor and Therell Taylor; a sister, Eva Taylor Rowe; and a great-grandson, Wyatt Sandford Gilmore.
The family requests memorials be made to Hospice Care Inc., 546 Menge Ave., Pass Christian, Ms 39571.
Visitation will be held today from 1-2 p.m. at the church.

Also on Franklin County Times
Educators update states of their schools
Main, News, Russellville, ...
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Local educators and community members gathered Thursday at Tharptown High School for the seventh annual State of the Schools program. T...
Dowdy guilty in dog mauling deaths
Main, News, Russellville, ...
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — A Franklin County jury found Brandy Dowdy guilty of one count of manslaughter and one count of criminally negligent homicide after more...
Youth sports policy aims at bad conduct
Main, News, Red Bay, ...
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
RED BAY — Over the course of his 14 years coaching youth league sports, Torrey Lewey has noticed a plethora of changes, one of which includes a tenden...
West sings national anthem for Special Olympics
News, Russellville, Russellville Golden Tigers
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Russellville High School senior Elijah West sang the national anthem at this year’s Special Olympics, marking his second time to perfor...
Garden club learns about poppy symbolism
Columnists, Opinion
HERE AND NOW
November 19, 2025
We began our November Cultura Garden Club meeting with a hands-on rock-painting activity led by muralist Ree Shannon of aRo Art & Design Concepts. Ree...
Electricity prices are soaring, and coal is a key solution
Columnists, Opinion
November 19, 2025
Electricity bills are climbing almost everywhere, and the reasons have little to do with ideology. Three forces are driving prices higher: massive new...
PCHS opens with 3 wins
High School Sports, Phil Campbell Bobcats, Sports
Bart Moss For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
The Phil Campbell Bobcats reeled of three straight basketball wins to open the season, beating Tharptown, Winston County and Cherokee. The Bobcats ope...
Young Lady Tigers still in building stage
High School Sports, Red Bay Tigers, Sports
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
While most coaches have their hands full managing one team, John Torisky once again returns to coach the Lady Tigers as well — giving him twice the am...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *