Billy C. Dunning

Mr. Dunning began working for Southern Bell Telephone Company in February, 1946, and remained an employee for many years, retiring from Bellsouth Telephone in 1986. He enjoyed yard work and plants of all kind. As a hobby, he had a greenhouse at his home for many years that included tropical plants. He maintained the yard at his home until age 94.

Mr. Dunning entered the Marine Corp at age 17 and served as a 30 caliber machine gunner in the U.S. Marines 4th Division during World War II in the Pacific Theater. He participated in the battles at Saipan, Tennin and Iwo Jima. He returned home after serving three years in the Marines and, because the legal voting age was then 21, was too young to vote upon his return.

Mr. Dunning’s wife, Ernestine Jordan Dunning, was also employed at BellSouth

Telephone and predeceased him in 2011. His first wife, Frances McMillan Dunning, predeceased him in 1978. He is survived by his cousin, Sara Powell, and her husband, Ray, of Tupelo, Mississippi; Ernestine’s sister, Betty Rorie, of Marietta, Georgia; and long-time friends Allison New and Marlene Cook of Jackson, Mississippi, Thomas Cook of Boulder, Colorado, and Tom and Linda Cook of Madison, Mississippi.

Graveside services will be on Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 10:00 am at Parkway Memorial Cemetery on Highland Colony Parkway in Ridgeland, Mississippi. In lieu of flowers, contributions to West Cemetery Association Perpetual Care Fund, P.O. Box 104, West, MS 39192 are suggested.