Archives
 By  Staff Reports Published 
4:12 am Thursday, May 22, 2003

Obituaries for Thursday, May 22, 2003

By Staff
J.C. Penney Company employee
Services for Polly Hooks will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mt. Olive Baptist Church on 49th Avenue with the Rev. Dr. Zachary Operton officiating. Burial will be in Okatibee Cemetery. Berry and Gardner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Hooks, 49, of Meridian, died Friday, May 16, 2003, at the University Medical Center in Jackson. She graduated from the Meridian Public Schools and attended Neely Business College and Meridian Junior College now Meridian Community College. She worked as the personnel and training manager for more than 27 years at J.C. Penney.
She accepted Christ as her personal savior and was baptized into the fellowship of Okatibee Missionary Baptist Church. She later joined Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church.
Survivors include her husband, Bobby L. Hooks; son, Kevin T. Dubose; daughter, Brittany L. Hooks; sisters, Gloria Hardy of Yonkers, N.Y., Holly Dubose-Conley of Birmingham, Ala. and Wilhemina Bloodsaw of Walnut Grove; a brother-in-law, Malcolm Hardy of Yonkers, N.Y. an uncle, Charlie Dubose; aunts, Evia Whitlock of Meridian, and Everlina Burns and her husband, Jimmy, of Chicago; and several nieces, nephews, cousins, adopted mother, Ruth Jackson and special friends, Alice Manuel, Mary Ann Wade, Eunice Dillard, Tijuana Griffin, and Pamela Smith; a godson, JaCaleb Smith, and neighbors and her J.C. Penney employees family.
Visitation will be Friday, 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. at the funeral home.
Retired cook at Rush Foundation Hospital
Services for Annie Matt Johnson Morton will be held today at 11 a.m. at Enterprise Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jimmy Johnson officiating. Burial will be in Good Hope Cemetery in Russell.
Mrs. Morton, 88, of Meridian, died Sunday, May 18, 2003, at Riley Hospital.
Survivors include her son, Cecil Morton Jr. and his wife, Dinah, of Meridian; three grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Cecil Morton Sr.; her parents and 18 brothers and sisters.
Lauderdale County employee
Services for William Ray Abston will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at James F. Webb Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. Sundra Girard and Melvin Boles officiating. Burial will be in Archusa Cemetery.
Mr. Abston, 71, of Meridian, died Wednesday, May 21, 2003.
Survivors include his wife, Alma Cooper Abston; a daughter, Penny Thrash and her husband, David; grandchildren, Wesley Thrash, Joshua Thrash, Brittney Thrash; great-grandchildren, Michael Kade Thrash, Michael Scott Wood Jr.; and a brother, Thomas Abston and his wife, Willodean.
Visitation will be today 5 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
Homemaker
Services for Faye Ellen Harper will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Barham Funeral Home Chapel with the Revs. Travis McManus and Frank Dodson officiating. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Mrs. Harper, 58, of Dalewood, died Wednesday, May 21, 2003, in her home.
Survivors include her husband, Talmadge Harper of Dalewood; daughters, Tina Thompson of Panama City, Fla., Karen Odom and her husband Greg Kelso, and Tracy White and her husband, Thomas, all of Dalewood; step-father, Bill Jackson of Dalewood; brother, David Jackson of Meridian; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Stella Marie Jackson, her father, Mennon Whittington and a brother, Bobby Eugene Whittington.
Pallbearers will be James Stanton, Eric Odom, Jeremy Odom, Jamie Stanton, Thomas White, and Brad Whittington.
Visitation will be today 5 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home.

Also on Franklin County Times
Successful paving plan draws Florence’s interest
Main, News, Russellville, ...
Bernie Delinski For the FCT 
August 5, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE — Pondering whether Florenceshouldestablish its own paving department, officials only had to look about 20 miles south to see the benefit...
Mills named principal at West Elementary
Main, News, Russellville
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
August 5, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE — Gayla Mills is beginning her 31st year in education and her first as West Elementary’s principal. Mills taught third grade when that gr...
Disciplinary point system gets ‘amped up’
Main, News, Russellville
By Ella Seaton For the FCT 
August 5, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE — As Alabama students head back to school, there is a new incentive for staying out of trouble. This school year, school disciplinary pro...
Wright is new RES principal
Main, News, Russellville
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
August 5, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE — Channing Wright, former Russellville Elementary assistant principal, will begin the new school year in a new role, that of principal. N...
Motorists reminded of bus safety rules
Franklin County, News
By Ella Seaton For the FCT 
August 5, 2026
As school buses begin returning to roads across northwest Alabama this week, transportation officials remind parents, students and motorists the impor...
Data center moratoriums are right for Alabama
Columnists, News, Opinion
August 5, 2026
Apparently, asking questions and raising community concerns now makes you a socialist. At least that’s what you’d believe if you listened to some of t...
RC&D continues making a difference
Columnists, Opinion
HERE AND NOW
August 5, 2026
I’ve seen firsthand the difference the Northwest Alabama Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) can make. One reason I continue to appre...
Wallace returns home to serve at WES
News, Russellville
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
August 5, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE — Russellville native Jacob Wallace has returned to West Elementary School, this time as assistant principal. A member of the Russellvill...

Leave a Reply

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