Ruben Jones McGraw died Monday, April 13, 2009, at the VA nursing home in Jackson.

Visitation will be from 3 until 5 p.m. Friday at Fisher Funeral Home with a graveside service following at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Mr. McGraw was a native of Louisville and served on the battleship USS Washington in World War II. He retired from the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, later the Illinois Central Railroad, as chief clerk.

Mr. McGraw was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years, Ruth Thompson McGraw (1983) and is survived by their four children, Nancy (Stuart) Lassetter of Holland, Patricia (Paul) Kurts of Huntsville, Ala., William McGraw (Sherry) of Winchester, Ky., and Robert McGraw of Brandon; 13 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a niece, Nancy Lea Libbey of Vicksburg.

Mr. McGraw, a longtime resident of Vicksburg after his retirement, was also preceded in death by his second wife of 20 years, Ruth Sullivan McGraw (2008).

He will be greatly missed by family and close friends.