The Vicksburg Post prints obituaries in news form for area residents, their family members and for former residents at no charge. Families wishing to publish additional information or to use specific wording have the option of a paid obituary.

Nancy Ann Glenn Craft

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Nancy Ann Glenn Craft died Thursday, April 10, 2008, at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn. She was 67.

Mrs. Craft was formerly of Vicksburg and Elmwood, Ill.

She was born July 31, 1940, in Peoria, Ill., to Leonard and Gladis Glenn. She was a graduate of Elmwood High School and Monmouth College, with a bachelor’s of science in biology and Mississippi State University with a master’s degree in science education. She taught in public and parochial schools in Chicago, New Orleans and Vicksburg, retiring from All Saints’ Episcopal School in 1993. She also served as an environmental scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg. She was an Illinois state scholar and a member of Kappa Delta and P.E.O. Sororities.

Survivors include her husband of 25 years, Charles Cooper Craft; daughters and sons-in-law, Melissa and Keith Jeter of Oak Ridge and Jenny and John Wilkes of Knoxville, Tenn.; stepdaughters and sons-in-law, Barbara and Rob Flickinger of Richardson, Texas, and Emily and Rick Broad of Richardson, Texas; her brother and sister-in-law, Dean and Jean Glenn of League City, Texas; her brother-in-law and wife, Harry and Patty Craft of Vicksburg; and grandchildren Evan and Will Jeter, Hadley Rose Wilkes, Betsy, Cooper and Whit Flickinger, Sally, Charles, Bennett and Lance Broad.

Visitation will be at Weatherford Mortuary in Oak Ridge from 5 until 6 p.m., Tuesday with a memorial service immediately following from 6 until 7 p.m. A memorial service will be in Dallas at a later date.

Memorials may be made in lieu of flowers to the Humane Society at www.hsus.org, or to the National Arthritis Foundation at www.arthritis.org or to a charity of your choice.

An online guestbook can be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com.

Frank Arthur Perkins

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Frank Arthur Perkins, a retired U.S. Army major, died Thursday, April 10, 2008, at Community Hospice of Jacksonville, Fla. He was 89.

He was born Aug. 24, 1918, to David Franklin Perkins and Mabel Rawls Perkins of Sharkey County, Miss. His brothers, David Lavelle Perkins and John Wesley Perkins, and sister, Valarie Perkins Bailey, preceded him in death.

He graduated from Carr Central High in Vicksburg and attended Millsaps College and Emory University until enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1942. As an observation artillery pilot, he flew reconnaissance missions in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, which included the Battle of Anzio. He received a battlefield commission as second lieutenant during combat in the Sicily campaign.

On a solo mission across Tunisia in May 1943, he forced the surrender of six German soldiers from his plane and landed to take them prisoner. While in North Africa, he also flew Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, Lt. Gen. George Patton and Gen. Omar Bradley for front-line reconnaissance missions. He later served as personal pilot to Gen. Ralph J. Canine, chief of staff for the Second Corps in Patton’s Third Army, France, 1944. His subsequent 10 years’ overseas service were spent in Germany, Korea and Japan. For his service, he received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 4 Battle Stars, the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal and many other medals and awards.

He married Elizabeth Jean Burri of St. Joseph, Mo., in 1949 and retired from the Army in 1962 to Orlando, Fla., where he lived with his family. There he was vice president of Mississippi Valley Helicopters, then naval flight instructor at Whiting Naval Air Station and finally supervisor of parks for the City of Orlando. In 1980, he co-founded the Anzio Beachhead Veterans of World War II and served as president, treasurer, chaplain and director emeritus for life. With other Anzio veterans, he participated in commissioning USS Anzio, the guided missile cruiser, in Norfolk, Va., and was honored by Vice President Dick Chaney.

In Orlando, he attended St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Church and, in Jacksonville, he was a member of Assumption Catholic Church and the Bishop Kenny Council No. 1951 Knights of Columbus.

He is survived by six children, Carolyn Ann Perkins of Viera, Fla., Frank A. Perkins II (Frances) of Brandon, Miss., Janet Mary Hall (Steve) of Annapolis, Md., Nancy Jean Maguire (Michael) of Jacksonville, Susan Valarie Shaner (Wesley) of Orlando and Sharon Elizabeth Crow (David) of Champaign, Ill. His 12 grandchildren are Renee Davis, Lauren Hall, Sarah Hall, Conner Perkins, Blake Perkins, Austin Perkins, Molly Maguire, Kelly Maguire, Maggie Maguire, Robbie Crow, Sydney Shaner and Kelsey Shaner.

Visitation was Sunday, April 13, 2008, at George H. Hewell and Son Funeral Home, 4140 University Blvd. South, Jacksonville, from 6 until 8 p.m. with a vigil service at 6:30 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 10 a.m. today, Monday, April 14, 2008, at Assumption Catholic Church, 2403 Atlantic Blvd., Jacksonville, with the Rev. Fred Parke as celebrant. A graveside service will be at 3 p.m. today at Historic Greenwood Cemetery, 1603 Greenwood St., Orlando, Fla.

The family suggests memorials be made to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida Foundation, 4114 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257 or Anzio Beachhead Veterans of World War II, 1 Harbor North, Amityville, NY 11701.