Bill Tinnell

CHARLESTON - William "Bill" Tinnell, 97, died at 7:55 a.m. July 20, 2002, at the Charleston Manor.

Born Jan. 31, 1905, in Mississippi County, son of the late J.D. and Mary Elizabeth Moore Tinnell, he was raised in Charleston and began his career as a bus driver with Scofield Bus Lines in 1926. As buses became an extension of the railroads, he transferred to Memphis, Tenn., in 1929 and to Little Rock, Ark., in 1938. He was an assistant dispatcher during World War II and carried troops from Fort Chaffee to Memphis. In 1955, he joined Continental Trailway Buses, where he was a driver and instructed new drivers. After retiring in 1972, he returned to Charleston, where he was a member of the United Methodist Church and served on the Administrative Board.

On May 13, 1928, he married Kathryn McFadden who preceded him in death on June 14, 1981.

He is survived by one sister, Bernice Stader of Charleston; and a number of nieces and nephews.

One brother and two sisters also preceded him in death.

Services were conducted at 2 p.m. today at McMikle Funeral Home. The Rev. Ed Hankinson, pastor of the United Methodist Church in Charleston and the Rev. Richard Combs, a United Methodist minister of Jackson, officiated.

Burial followed in the IOOF Cemetery near Charleston.

Pallbearers were: Emmett Burke, Kim McFadden, Paul David Halter, Bob Thomason, Don Moxley and Reginald Young.