Grady L. Whitfield

90; WWII Army and Air Force veteran

The Jeffersonville News and Tribune Mon Nov 01, 2010, 08:07 PM EDT

Funeral services for Grady L. Whitfield, 90, of Jeffersonville, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, at Kraft Funeral Service, Charlestown Road Chapel, New Albany, with burial with military honors to follow in Kraft-Graceland Memorial Park. He died Saturday at his home with his beloved wife at his side.

The son of the late William and Alice Jourdan Whitfield, Grady was born Dec. 2, 1919, in Cairo, Miss. He attended college in Cairo before leaving Mississippi, in 1941. Grady was a veteran of World War II, attached in the U.S. Army with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy, and also with the U.S. Air Force in the states. He retired from Florida Power and Light Company with 36 years of service. He was a member of Eastern Parkway Baptist Church in Louisville, and a member of Woodmen of the World, and the New Albany Elks Club 270. He volunteered for his church, caring for the lawn there for many years.

Special thanks to all who cared for him, especially Louise Ross with Hospice of Southern Indiana.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Marie Spurrier Hawkins; stepchildren, Evelyn Perigo and Prince “Bud” Hawkins; brothers, Connie, Melton, Talmadge and Clyde; stepson-in-law, Eugene Perigo; and grandchildren, Laurie and Jeffrey.

Survivors include his loving wife of 27 years, Jeanette Wimbish Whitfield, of Jeffersonville; sisters, Quindel M. Keith and Mattie Faye Woodruff, both of Mississippi; stepdaughter-in-law, Patricia Hawkins, of Jacksonville, Fla.; loving grandchildren, Phil and his wife, Lyda, Donna and her husband, Allen, Terry, Mark, Patrick and his wife, Katie, Lisa, Rose and her husband, John, Eugenia Lee, Joanne and Walter; and numerous great- and great-great-grandchildren; three nephews; and two nieces.

Visitation will be at the funeral home from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, and after 9 a.m. Thursday.

The family requests that expressions of sympathy take the form of contributions to Eastern Parkway Church or Hosparus of Southern Indiana in his memory.