Bar Memorial Service honors 94 lawyers who died during past year
October 13, 2026
The Mississippi Supreme Court convened on Oct. 13 to honor 94 lawyers who died during the past year. Bar leaders gathered with families and friends of the deceased during the Mississippi Bar Memorial Service in Jackson.
Mississippi Bar President Kelly Sessoms III of Pascagoula said in his eulogy, “We join you in mourning the passing of our colleagues in the profession, as well as to celebrate the life and memory of the loved ones who departed this life during the past year.” They included judges and other public servants. They were partners, friends, mentors and worthy adversaries who zealously advocated for their clients. “And as is said, iron sharpens iron; they made us better lawyers and better human beings.”
They also had a tremendous impact on their communities, serving as church deacons and school volunteers, coaching youth sports, serving as scout leaders or welcoming newcomers to the neighborhood, Sessoms said. “They were civic leaders in big and small ways in their communities, and they became deeply involved in the fabric of the community by investing not only their time, energy and talents, but their entire souls to make the community a better place. Their passing leaves a void that each of us here today should strive to fill,” he said.
Sessoms said, “My challenge today is that we should be inspired by their lives of service to the legal community, and we should step up to fill the gaps that they have left. Let us pay tribute to those that we honor here today by renewing our dedication to the ideals of our profession: integrity, civility, professionalism, civic responsibility, compassion, and excellence.”
Justice David Ishee of Gulfport, in a response on behalf of the Supreme Court, quoted from William Faulkner and the Bible regarding grief, and Ernest Hemingway and Pericles regarding the measure of a life’s accomplishments. He said, “Each of these people, as members of the Bar, distinguished themselves every day in the course of their profession. Attorneys, lawyers, elected officials: they came here every day and they touched someone’s life….Pericles said, ‘What you leave behind is not what is engraved in a stone monument, but it is woven into the lives of others.’ And every day as they carried out their profession, these individuals wove their legacy into the lives of their clients. Whether it was a Fortune 500 company or an individual that was destitute and poor, whether it was a civil matter involving property, a domestic matter involving marriage and child custody, or whether it was a criminal matter involving liberty and even life, they were represented by one of these people.”
Chief Justice Mike Randolph of Hattiesburg, who presided over the memorial service, said that he recognized law school classmates, Vietnam veterans, circuit judges, chancellors and numerous attorneys among those who died. “Each and every person on here is irreplaceable to the Mississippi Bar.”
Mississippi Bar President-Elect Jennie A. Eichelberger of Jackson read the Memorial Resolution on behalf of the Bar before reading each of the 94 names. The Resolution said, in part, “Whereas, we give thanks for the devoted public service of those we honor today, and we acknowledge that without their devotion, and often sacrifice, which they exemplified, the liberty and freedoms we enjoy today would be endangered and our individual lives diminished; and Whereas, in mourning the loss of these members of the bar, we also recognize that their passing will never diminish the profound impact each has made in the lives of their families, their colleagues, their communities, and on this profession….”
Those who were remembered include:
Michael S. Adelman, Hattiesburg
Chancellor V. Glenn Alderson, Oxford
Betty B. Arinder, Jackson
Jerry Askew, Starkville
Wiley J. Barbour, Benton
Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes, Vicksburg
Peter H. Barrett, Gulfport
Eugene Barton, Okolona
Stephen L. Beach III, Jackson
William M. Beasley, Jr., Tuscaloosa, AL
Richard B. Benton, Nashville, TN
Thomas Q. Brame, Jr., Laurel
Celeste Brustowicz, New Orleans, LA
Yancy B. Burns, Jackson
Richard D. Chotard, Memphis, TN
David W. Clark, Jackson
James R. Clark, Clinton
Circuit Judge Lee S. Coleman, West Point
Freida G. Collins, Ellisville
Wade H. Creekmore, Jr., Ridgeland
Dorothy L. Crocker, Greenville
Matthew A. Davis, Waynesboro
Robert C. Dean, Greenville
James K. Dukes, Jr., Hattiesburg
G. Kenner Ellis, Jr., Greenville
Chancellor Timothy E. Ervin, Amory
Jerry A. Evans, Hattiesburg
Ray C. Evans, Newton
Joseph A. Fernald, Jr., Brookhaven
Richard Flood, Ridgeland
Thomas P. Givens, Knoxville, TN
William H. Glover, Jr., Flowood
Gary S. Goodwin, Columbus
William D. Harmon, Columbus
Louise Harrell, Jackson
Circuit Judge Robert B. Helfrich, Hattiesburg
Tucker L. Henley, Como
Michael C. Hester, Biloxi
Eugene J. Hoffman IV, Pass Christian
Jena J. Hoover, Winona
Johnnie R. Hudson, Clinton
Phillip L. Husband, Washington, D.C.
Joseph W. Hutchinson III, Charlotte, NC
Lisa S. Johns, Memphis, TN
Fifth Circuit Judge E. Grady Jolly, Jr., Jackson
Michael D. Jonas, Aberdeen
Robert J. Kelly, Batesville
Katherine V. Kemp, Jacksonville, FL
John M. Kinard, Pascagoula
Crane D. Kipp, Jackson
Alfred R. Koenenn, Gulfport
Edward N. Kramer III, Quitman
Mark S. Larson, Gulfport
Douglas E. Levanway, Jackson
William N. Lovelady, Jr., Oxford
John M. Lusk, Jr., Jackson
Robert A. Malouf, Ridgeland
Jolly W. Matthews III, Hattiesburg
Maurine B. Mattson, Carrollton
Velia A. Mayer, Madison
Gerald R. McLemore, Corinth
Roger K. Meagher, Coppell, TX
Harold W. Melvin, Ridgeland
Daniel J. Mulholland, Jackson
Eric G. Myers, Jr., Jackson
Reed T. Nunnelee, Ridgeland
Jeffrey J. Padgett, Batesville
Thomas Y. Page, Flowood
Warren P. Palzer, Bohemia, NY
Jesse C. Pennington, Jackson
Phillip G. Pitts, Crestview, FL
Joseph A. Purvis, Jackson
William B. Raiford III, Oxford
Alfred H. Rhodes, Jr., Jackson
Stephen W. Rimmer, Jackson
John G. Roach, Jr., Madison
Sandra McAdams Roberson, Gulfport
Arlin C. Ruthven, Water Valley
Azki Shah, Clarksdale
Anthony R. Simon, Jackson
David P. Sirera, New Orleans, LA
Pamela D. Slate, Montgomery, AL
Jesse F. Sparks, Jr., Winter Park, FL
G. Gayle Tart, Gulfport
Jacqueline E. Thach, Petal
Chancellor J. Dewayne Thomas, Jackson
Stephen L. Thomas, Jackson
William Thomas, Jr., Germantown, TN
Robert F. Thompson, Jackson
Steve C. Thornton, Jackson
Otis R. Tims, Tupelo
Thomas H. Walman, McComb
E. Marcus Wiggs III, Jackson
Charles T. Yoste, Starkville
Video of the Memorial Ceremony is at this link: https://vimeo.com/event/
A photo is attached for your consideration. Caption: Mississippi Bar President Kelly Sessoms III of Pascagoula, standing at podium, delivers the eulogy at the Mississippi Bar Memorial Service on Oct. 13 before the Mississippi Supreme Court in Jackson.
