Tally D. Riddell Sr.

Tally D. Riddell, Sr., 95, died Tuesday, January 15, 2008, at Golden Meadow Specialty Care. Funeral services are 2:00 pm today at First Baptist Church in Quitman, MS with burial in the Odd Fellows Cemetery. Wright's Funeral Home, Inc., in Quitman, MS is handling the arrangements.
Tally D. Riddell, Sr., born in Lockhart, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, on February 7, 1912, was the son of the late Judge and Mrs. J. A. Riddell. He graduated from Meridian High School, from the University of Mississippi with a B. S. degree in Commerce in 1931 and from George Washington University with a Juris Doctor degree in 1938.
Riddell served in numerous public capacities including: the office of State Senator from Lauderdale County (1940-44), State Counsel for Comptroller of Banks in Jackson (1942-45), Alderman, City of Quitman (1949-53), Chairman of the State Educational Finance Commission from 1954-56, which organization had the responsibility for reorganizing the secondary schools of the State of Mississippi, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning of the State of Mississippi from 1956-68.
Also, he was President of the Mississippi Economic Council from 1965-66 and served as a member of its Board of Directors for more than ten years. He was active in many organizations throughout his legal career having been President of the Clarke County Bar Association, President of the Mississippi State Bar Association (1972-73), a member of the Mississippi Bar Foundation, member of the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, and the Federal Bar Association, a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association, the Mississippi Judical Nominating Committee and the American Academy of Hospital Attorneys.
For over 40 years Riddell served as Attorney for the Board of Education of Clarke County, Mississippi, and the Board of Trustees of Quitman School District, as well as having been City Attorney of the City of Quitman (1957-65) and General Attorney for H. C. Watkins Memorial Hospital in Quitman.
For more than twenty-eight (28) years he served as Division Counsel for Southern Railway System for the State of Mississippi and was President of the Mississippi Railroad Association and a member of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel.
Riddell was General Counsel and a member of the Board of Trustees of Rush Medical Foundation of Meridian, Mississippi, for more than 27 years and a member of the Board of Directors of the Great Southern National Bank.
Riddell was a founder and President of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Quitman, Mississippi and President of the Quitman Lions Club. He was President of the Ole Miss Alumni Association (1977-78) and was inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame in 1983. Prior to that time he served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee numerous times.
Riddell was a member of the First Baptist Church of Quitman where he taught the Men's Senior Bible Class. Also, he was a veteran of World War II, a member of the American Legion, a Mason and a Shriner.
Survivors include: his wife, Wilma Wilkins RIddell of Quitman, Mississippi; son, Tally D. Riddell, Jr., and his wife, Carol of Tupelo, Mississippi; daughter, Janet Riddell of Jackson, Mississippi; granddaughter, Courtney Gresham and her husband, Allen of Starkville, Mississippi; and sisters, Eoline Patton and Joyce Sloan of Charlotte, North Carolina.