Stories from Wednesday, October 30, 2019

I don’t know why in the world people think they have to drink beer and whiskey everywhere they go. I think getting it legalized at college football games is stupid. Don’t matter if there’s kids in places or not, they’ve got to have their alcohol. It is so stupid. I don’t know why in the world they want to pass stuff like that. It’s crazy.

MORLEY, Mo. — Kaye Francis Johnson, age 89, passed away Oct. 29, 2019, at Sikeston Convalescent Center in Sikeston. She was born Aug. 8, 1930, in Double Springs, Ala., daughter of the late Chester Seymour and Lecey Baldy Seymour. She was a member of Morley Baptist Church and enjoyed sewing, playing the piano and was an avid reader...

PARMA, Mo. — Samuel Ray Eaton, 88, died Oct. 18, 2019, at his home in Parma. Born Dec. 25, 1930, in Jumpertown, Miss., son of the late Samuel Ruey Eaton and Evelyn McCombs Swiney, he was of the Baptist belief and a member of the Catron Baptist Church in Catron. He worked as a farm mechanic and farmhand in the area for many years. ...

SIKESTON — Bervil Hillis, 52, passed away peacefully at his home in Sikeston on Oct. 22, 2019, after a long race with cancer. He was born in Cape Girardeau on Jan. 30, 1967, to Nedra Manes Hillis and Eddie Hillis. On March 4, 1995, he married Carole Moore...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — Chester “Chet” Riley passed away Oct. 28, 2019, at his home in New Madrid at the age of 87 years. Born July 14, 1932, in Karnak, Ill., son of the late James and Georgia Tapley Riley, he moved to Missouri in 1965 and was employed for many years by Ralph Anderson Lumber Co. and Cairo Dry Kiln as an, in his own words, Board Flopper...

SIKESTON — Clura Duff, 75, died Oct. 30, 2019, at her home in Sikeston. Born May 22, 1944, in Sikeston, she was the daughter of the late Clifford Scott and Doris Wooley Tejeda. On Dec. 27, 1963, in Sikeston, she married Harold Duff Sr. who preceded her in death on June 9, 1999...

MINER, Mo. — Charles E. Dewitt, 86, died Oct. 29, 2019, at his home in Miner.   Born May 27, 1933, in Matthews, son of the late Hollis E. and Effie Marie (Ratliff) Dewitt, he was a lifelong resident of this area and a member of Shady Acres Church of Christ and a veteran of the U.S. ...