Clayton Gaines

DEXTER - Clayton L. Gaines, 75, died June 4, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Born Jan. 26, 1927, at Pontiac, Mich., son of the late Fount and Josie White Gaines, he attended the First Church of the Nazarene in Dexter and was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. After retiring from the International Hat Company in Dexter, he operated a nursery business.

On Aug. 11, 1951, at Piggott, Ark., he married Sarah Forkum who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: three daughters, Marlene Sherfield, Janice Bazarian and Connie Smith of Dexter; two brothers, Elvin Gaines of Dexter and Leo Gaines of Winterhaven, Fla.; one sister, Thelma Stacy of Dexter; and four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Three brothers, Earl Gaines, Cecil Gaines and Coy Gaines, preceded him in death.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter, where services will be conducted at 10 a.m. Thursday. The Rev. Murrell Duffie will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Chalk Bluff Cemetery at Dexter.