RITA MAE SIKES MEDLIN

DELHI Rita Mae Sikes Medlin died Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002. She was 81.

Born in Richland Parish, Mrs. Medlin lived in Rayville and was a former resident of Lake Providence.

She was preceded in death by a husband, Pete Sikes; her parents, Alec and Viola McCarty; two brothers, Earnest McCarty and Basil McCarty; and a sister, Edna Herrington.

She is survived by four daughters, Alice Perry, Velma Rhoten, Florece Coleman and Jan Alderman; a son, Scooter Medlin; a sister, Margaret Williamson; and 15 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Cox Funeral Home in Delhi with the Revs. James C. Hayes and Ken Evans officiating. Burial will follow at Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe.

Visitation will be from 5 until 8 tonight at the funeral home.

Pallbearers will be Joey Coleman, Scooter Medlin, Chase Snyder, Mike Crane, Jake Perry, Josh Payne, Spencer Rhoten, Kelly Coleman and Adren Alderman.

Memorials may be made to the Melbourne Baptist Church in Transylvania.

JAMES B. MIDDLETON

HUNTSVILLE, Texas Maj. Gen. James B. Middleton died Saturday, Dec. 21, 2002, in Huntsville, Texas. He was 82.

Mr. Middleton served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, remaining in the Army Reserve until his retirement as a major general in 1980.

He graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in 1948 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked for the Vicksburg District Corps of Engineers before retiring in 1974 as chief of the District. He served in the 412th Engineers Brigade as a major general and commander. He also established the European Engineer Command. He became director of Associated General Contractors in Memphis after his retirement.

In Vicksburg, Mr. Middleton was a member of the Rotary Club and served on the Vicksburg Public Schools Board of Education and Vicksburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

In 1981, he moved to Huntsville where he was a member of the First Baptist Church and on the Board of Directors for Elkins Lake.

He was preceded in death by his parents, George and Lucille Middleton, and a wife, Ruby McKinney Middleton.

Survivors include his wife, Marie Middleton of Huntsville; two sons, George Middleton of Vicksburg and Craig Middleton of Huntsville; a daughter, Lynn Bean of Independence, Ky.; two stepchildren, Linda West of Houston, Texas, and Herbert Atkinson of Roswell, N.M.; and four grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Huntsville Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 5 until 7 tonight at the funeral home.

Services with full military honors will be at 1:15 p.m. Monday at the National Cemetery at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

Honorary pallbearers will be Maj. Gen. Bill Hobgood, Maj. Gen. Jim Bates, Robert M. Fowler, Jack McKinney, Jack Evans, Tom Luke, Harry Westerlund, John Cunningham, Bill Coley, Gordon Brown, Kirk Fordice, Cliff West and members of the 412th Engineers Command.

Memorials may be made to the Myosistis Association of America or to the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Texas.