Jesse Eugene Fonville

Jesse Eugene Fonville February 2, 1926Ð April 5, 2006 SMITHS STATION, AL— Jesse Eugene Fonville, 80, of Smiths Station, Alabama died April 5, 2006 at his home. Funeral services will be conducted on Sunday, April 9, 2006 at the Edgewood Church of Christ, 4102 Macon Road in Columbus, GA at 3:00 p.m. Services will be officiated by Roger Johnson, minister of Edgewood Church of Christ; David Spiece, minister of Rose Hill Church of Christ; Carroll Collins, friend and member at Edgewood; and Dr. Rex Turner, Jr., President of Southern Christian University. Burial will be Monday, April 10, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. at Ft. Mitchell National Military Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Saturday, April 8, 2006 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Vance Memorial Chapel in Phenix City, AL. Pallbearers will be Donnie Cornett, Curtis Duke, Jr., Jim Hayes, William Phillips, Tom Simmons, and Pete Tucker. Honorary Pallbearers will be Gene Anderson, W. C. Bogle, Jim Boyd, Carroll Lisby, Captain Tim Meadors (serving in Iraq), Jerry Murray, and Ken Pylant. Mr. Fonville was born February 2, 1926, in Seymour, TX to the late R.B. Fonville and Louetta McKinney Fonville. He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Navy on the USS Oneida (APA221) troop transport ship as a communications specialist. He attended Abilene Christian University and earned a Masters degree and studied in the Doctorial program at the University of Southern Mississippi. He and his family were involved in mission work in Thailand for ten years and he later made four mission trips to the Ukraine and Russia. He has served as minister for Churches of Christ in Texas and Mississippi and most recently at the Torch Hill Road Church of Christ in Columbus, GA. Besides preaching the good news of the gospel of Christ for more than fifty years, he also taught courses for Southern Christian University and Faulkner University in Montgomery, AL. At the time of his death, he was an active member of the Edgewood Church of Christ in Columbus, where he had served as an elder, teacher and song leader. In 2005, he authored a book entitled, ÒThe Power WithinÓ, a study of the Holy Spirit. He held a pilot's license, and had been a Lt. Col. in the Civil Air Patrol. He was also an accredited examiner for Ham radio operators. In his spare time, he was an avid blue grass and classical guitarist. He was preceded in death by five siblings, Brantley Fonville, Herschel Fonville, Marcus Fonville, Geneva Maher and Mildred McDaniel; and by an infant daughter, Angela Fonville. He is survived by his wife of fifty years, the former Naomi Reagan; by two sons: Alan Fonville and wife, Carol, of Phenix City, Alabama; and Doug Fonville and wife, Chelo of LaGrange, Texas; by two brothers: his twin James Fonville of Haltom City, Texas; and Alton Fonville of St. Paul, Arkansas; also by two sisters: Helen Cline of Richland Hills, Texas and Juanita Parker of Colleyville, Texas; by five grandchildren: Jessica Lynn Fonville and Timothy Jordan Fonville of Phenix City, Alabama; Daniel Eugene Fonville, Dyelan Enoch Fonville, and David Elias Fonville of LaGrange, Texas as well as many nieces and nephews. Memorial donations may be made to Columbus Hospice, 7020 Moon Road, Columbus, GA 31909, or House to House, Heart to Heart, a gospel mailing program. Checks should be made to Jacksonville Church of Christ, P. O. Box 520, Jacksonville, AL 36265 earmarked ÒHTHÓ.