CLEVELAND — Jean Webster Alford died Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008, at Bolivar Medical Center in Cleveland. She was 85.

Mrs. Alford was born in Oak Ridge to Nancy Estelle McCandless Webster and James Ellis Webster. She graduated from Carr Central High School and was one of the first women employed by the U.S. District Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg.

In the 1940s, she moved with her husband to Cleveland where they were bookkeepers for Russell Clinic. They later owned L&A Furniture. In 1984, she opened and managed The Stitchery Shoppe.

Mrs. Alford was a member of First United Methodist Church for more than 60 years, where she was a member of the Mattie Lou Neill Group and Circle I. She was a member of the Cleveland Woman’s Club and the Bolivar County Hospital Auxiliary.

She was preceded in death by her husband, A.A. “Jack” Alford, and seven siblings.

Survivors include two daughters, Suzanne Alford-Hodges and Jacqueline Erwin, both of Russellville, Ark.; two sons, David Alford of Cleveland and Donald Alford of Lawrenceville, Ga.; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. today at the First United Methodist Church under the direction of Ray Funeral Home in Cleveland. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until the service.

Pallbearers will be Andrew Erwin, Micah Erwin, Scott Beasley, Jacob Haas, R.E. Hodges and Don Erwin.