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Jim Starks
SIKESTON — James “Jim” Starks III, 72, passed away Tuesday, March 3, 2020, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.
Jim was born in Malvern, Ark., on June 24, 1947, to the late James Smith Starks Jr. and Frances Elizabeth Bland-Starks. He was an honor graduate of the Malvern High School class of 1965.
Jim attended the Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Ark., and then onto the University of Arkansas to graduate with a degree in chemical engineering, and a master’s degree in education from the Southeast Missouri State University.
He was a math teacher at the New Madrid County Public Schools and a chemical engineer at Noranda Aluminum until he retired in December of 2008.
On June 26, 1993, he married Marilyn Bennett Starks, who survives of the home in Sikeston.
Jim was a kind, and caring husband, son, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend. His quiet and kind demeanor will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
He was a deacon and elder at the Hunter Presbyterian Church in Sikeston, active in the Boy Scouts of America on both the Chapter and local level. As a youth, Jim was an Eagle Scout as a vigil honor in the Order of the Arrow, and as an adult he was an Assistant Scout Master, and District Chairman. Jim was also a member of the Missouri Retired Teachers Association.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by five sons, James A. “Jimmy” Starks of Franklin, N.C., Joseph Starks of Miner, Mo., Ray Starks of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Charles Starks of Fredericktown, Mo., and Jason Eaton of Nashville, Tenn; one daughter, Geneva Starks of Spartanburg, N.C.; two brothers John B. (Pat) Starks of Alma, Ark., and William (Sara) Richard “Rick” Starks of Dallas, Texas; one sister, Martha Carolyn (John) Starr of Claremore, Okla.; nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be Friday, March 6 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m. at the Hunter Memorial Presbyterian Church in Sikeston; Pastor Karen Dumey of the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson will officiate.
Interment will follow in Garden of Memories Cemetery at a later date.
The family requests donations be made to: the American Cancer Society of Southeast Missouri, 106 Farrar Drive, Suite 104, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 and the Hunter Memorial Presbyterian Church, 723 Allen Boulevard, Sikeston, MO 63801.
Paid obituary