Alpha Hanks, 81, of Jacksonville was reunited with her beloved husband, Marcus Hanks, on November 28, 2023.

A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m., Friday, December 1, 2023, at Autry Funeral Home Chapel in Jacksonville. Rev. Randy Allen and Rev. Paul Smith will officiate. She will be laid to rest at Dickerson Cemetery in San Augustine, TX.

Visitation will begin on Thursday, November 30, 2023, and family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Autry Funeral Home, Jacksonville.

Alpha was born to the late Benjamin and Alma (Boyles) Allen on May 29, 1942. She had a kind heart and it showed through her work with Hospice of East Texas as a caregiver. Alpha enjoyed dancing with the Jack and Jill Square Dancers and was a member of Life Recovery Church in Jacksonville.

Alpha was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Marcus Hanks, who passed in 2009; brothers, Alfred "Monk", Earl, Lucius, Wesley, Bennie, Murl, Junior, Calvin and Charlie Allen; and sisters, Virginia Allen and Jessie Marie Allen.

Left to cherish Alpha's memory are her children, Tammy Renee Jones and husband James, Kimberly Page Gardner and husband Roy Don, Rhonda Kay Briggs and husband Carl, and Mark Allen Hanks and wife Becky, all of Jacksonville. She is also survived by her sister, Ava Ray of Jacksonville; sister-in-law, Shiela Allen of Jacksonville; and brother-in-law, Hillman Hanks and wife Judy of Jasper; 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, three great-great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Ethan Hanks, Chad Redford, Trenton Briggs, Russell Hooton, James Brayden Ray McKnight, and Matthew Nelson. Honorary pallbearers will be James Foster, Hillman Hanks and Kenneth Ward.