Roy C. Thomas

Graveside services for Roy C. Thomas, 52, of Vilonia, Arkansas who died Monday, May 17, 2004 at his residence will be at 11 a.m. Friday, May 21 at Old Lebanon Baptist Church Cemetery, off Shellhorn Road, with Rev. Rick Evans officiating.

Burial will be under the direction of Skeen Funeral Home of Troy.

Visitation will be from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Mr. Thomas was born March 14, l952 in Troy. He was a 26 year veteran of the newspaper business, starting as a sportswriter at the Montgomery Advertiser when he graduated from Lanier High School in 1970. He worked at the Advertiser for 10 years, serving as sports editor for several years before moving to Mississippi in 1980. He worked at several newspapers in Mississippi, including serving as publisher of the Yazoo City Mississippi Herald for six years before post-polo syndrome forced his retirement in 1996. Mr. Thomas earned dozens of awards for writing, editing and design from the press associations in Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the Associated Press and Society for Newspaper Design. He was  known for his long but insightful editorials and was convinced that a good newspaper could lead a community to become even better.

He was preceded in death by his father, Elton E. Thomas.

Survivors include daughters, Danielle and Ashley Thomas; son, Mathew Thomas, all of Mt. Vernon, Arkansas; mother, Ila Thomas of Montgomery, formerly of Troy; brother, Louis Thomas of Gulfport, Mississippi and a sister, Angela Thomas Palm of Atlanta, Georgia.

Necy Lewis Rogers

Services for Necy Lewis Rogers, 82, of Troy who died Sunday, May 16, 2004 at Troy Regional Medical Center will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 19 at Collegedale Church of Christ with Ministers John Hackett and Loyd Hodge officiating. There will be a one hour lie-in-state prior to the service.

Burial will be in Green Hills Memorial Park in Troy under the direction of Dillard Funeral Home of Troy.

Visitation will be from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 18 at the funeral home.

Survivors include his wife, Agnes Rogers of Troy; four daughters and their husbands,

Barbara and Loyd Hodge of Troy, Betty Sue Mills of Atlanta, Judy Elaine and David Trawick of Banks and Glenda Marie and Rich Edminsten of Melburne, Florida; five sons and their wives, Joseph Phillip and Wanda Rogers of Atlanta, Georgia, William Lewis "Rusty" and Linda Rogers of Charleston, South Carolina, Timithy and Janie Rogers of Troy, Paul Curtis and Janice Rogers of Kentucky and John Mark and Pat Rogers of Troy;

Grandchildren, Andrew Jackson Thomas, William Lewis "Billy" Thomas, David Edwin Trawick, Alicia Odom, Heather Leigh Rogers, Mathew Rogers, Tony Mills, Tamikia Rogers, Joseph Rogers, Jr. "Joey" and Patricia Victoria Toxey; five great grandchildren; and a sister, Doris Walker of Valley.

The family request memorials be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation.