Retired Minister-Chaplain To Be Buried Wednesday
POPLARVILLE- Rev. James C. Richardson, 77, a retired Baptist minister who served in the armed forces during, two World Wars and whose active ministry spanned 52 years, died early Monday in Pearl River County Hospital following a stroke two weeks ago.
Funeral services will be conducted at the First Baptist Church here at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Burial will be in Forest Lawn Memorial Park with full military rites.
He entered Clarke College at Newton in 1908 as a member of the first class of that school. Later with two brothers he graduated at Mississippi College. He entered World War I as a private, attending Harvard University School for Chaplains, and was commissioned a chaplain upon graduation. He served in France during that war.
After the war he received a master's degree in theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Ky.
During his career he served as pastor of churches in Meridian, Forest, Bay Springs, and Poplarville. Twenty-four of his 52 years in the ministry were spent as a chaplain in the Federal service.
During World War II, Rev. Richardson served in the Pacific theater of operations. He was command chaplain at the Okinawa base before returning to the United States. Until retirment he served as chaplain at the VA hospital at Thomasville, Ga.
For the past several years he had operated a cattle and tung farm here and served as supply minister in area churches. He was a member of the American Legion, VFW, Rotary Club and the Masonic Lodge.
In 1917 Rev. Richardson was married to Miss Margaret Bland of D'Lo. They have four sons, all of whom saw military services in World War II. One son, Jackson C. Richardson, lost his life in Europe during that war, and in his memory Rev. and Mrs. Richardson established scholarships to enable young men going into the ministry to receive education.
Survivors include his wife; three sons, James of Poplarville, Bland V, Logan, Utah, and John W. Richardson, San Diego, Calif.; four brothers, S L. and Thomas F., of Poplarville, Sid S., Mt. Olive, and Coley Richardson, of Jackson; seven sisters, Mrs. E. J. Hough, Mrs. E. T. McAlpin, Msrs. (sic Mrs.) G. C. Coleman, Mrs. O. U. Counsel (sic Council), all of Magee, Mrs Harvey Fortenberry, McComb, Mrs. Robert Brownlee, Paradise, Calif, and Mrs. E. S. Flynt, Biloxi.
Clarion-Ledger, 29 Feb 1968, Thu, Page 12