Reginald McRae

Reginald McRae, 85, died Thursday, May 24, 2007, at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian. Visitation is today from 12 to 1:30 PM at Stephens Funeral Home in DeKalb, with funeral services following at DeKalb Presbyterian Church and burial at McRae Cemetery.
Born in 1921 in the Bloomfield community of Kemper County, he grew up during the Depression. He swam in Sucarnoochee Creek as a boy, shot marbles, and plowed behind a mare named "Mable". He attended Bloomfield school until the 6th grade, and then attended school in DeKalb where he graduated.
A World War II Veteran, he enlisted in the Navy at the age of 21. He served in the South Pacific, on the island of Palawan, with a meteorological unit that provided weather reports to ships. When he was discharged, he returned home via the Panama Canal to the Port of New York. He often talked about the band that played "Sentimental Journey" as their ship sailed into New York Harbor. After his discharge in New Orleans, he rode on a train back to Meridian, and then rode in a cab all the way to Bloomfield. He surprised his family in the middle of the night when he got back home.
After the War, he joined his much loved older brother, T.G., in business, working at McRae & Company selling butane and propane gas. He managed the DeKalb branch of the business for most of his career, later working in Meridian when his brother's health failed. Later, he began his own business, East Central Gas Service, located in Philadelphia where he worked until his retirement in 1984.
During his retirement years, he enjoyed walking at least once, and sometimes twice a day with his little buddy "Jack", a Jack Russell Terrier. They stopped to rest at VanDevender's Drug Store, where he would go in and sit down to visit with other older men who had gathered there. Jack would sit quietly right under his feet. He also enjoyed Braves baseball and riding around town. He had a dry wit and a great sense of humor and made people laugh with his funny stories and one-liners.
He loved his entire extended family, and enjoyed laughing and visiting with his relatives at family gatherings over the years. He especially loved his wife and daughters.
A member of DeKalb Presbyterian Church, in his later years he faithfully watched the Sunday morning services of First Baptist Church in Meridian on television. By his own testimony, he had prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Throughout the years, he commented that he had never been anywhere that he wasn't glad to get home. To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, so he is home with his family who gave gone before,
Not one who enjoyed the spotlight, he would be slightly embarrassed by this obituary, but he would tolerate it out of love for his daughter who wrote it.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Lena and Lawrence McRae, and all his brothers and sisters, Frank E. McRae, Sr., Erstine McRae Myatt, T.G. McRae, L.C. McRae, Jr., Rochelle McRae Hardesty, and Herschel McRae.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Barbara Jean Bright McRae; daughters, Regina Leigh McRae and Rhonda Louise McRae, both of Ridgeland and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial gifts may be sent to Palmer Home in Columbus, MS or Lake Forest Ranch in Macon, MS.