Visitation will be 3:00-5:00pm, Sunday, May 6, 2018, at Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home in Pearl. Life Celebration services will be held at 11:00am, Monday, May 7, 2018, at Wesleyanna United Methodist Church with interment to follow in Florence Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to services.
Mr. Speights was born in Florence on July 1, 1928, a son of the late Vernon Shelby Speights and Louise Miller Speights Mounger. On May 16, 1948, he married the love of his life, Lois Lee “Tiny” Jordan. Sadly, she preceded him in death in February 2013, and he has missed her every day since.
In addition to his wife and parents, he was also preceded in death by son, Steve Speights, grandson, Chuck Speights, and brothers, Vernon and Charlie Speights.
He is survived by sons, James Speights (Louise) and Donald Speights, Jr. (Dot); daughters, Arlene Harrison, Rita Smith (Oley), and Sherry Boyd (Ronnie); daughter-in-law, Dianne Speights; sisters, Maureen Holmes and Freda Galloway; 15 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild.
Mr. Speights was a hard-working husband and father, and a faithful servant to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For as long as he was able, he was an active member of Wesleyanna United Methodist Church in Star, which he helped build faithfully and physically. His greatest joy in life was his wife of 65 years and blue grass music. His greatest pride was his children and the successes they made in this life. Mr. Speights made his living doing a number of things- mechanic, well-digger, farmer, and was best known for starting his own company, Speights Welding and Repair, which is now owned and operated by his namesake, Donald Speights, Jr. He was known as a man who could “fix” just about anything and his motto was, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” He has passed peacefully from this life surrounded by his children. We are certain he has joined our mama in Heaven and they are camped out in the blue grass corner, listening to good music, laughing together, and catching up.
Memorials may be made to Wesleyanna United Methodist Church in Star.
A message from his children:
Our Daddy is a Man of Steel, forged in the flame of life, tempered by unexpected life's event, and shaped by the Savior to form a loving Christian father, who did his best to provide for his family a living example
of how we should live- devoted to our God and to our family.
