Loraine Kirkland Whittle

Services for Loraine Whittle will be held Wednesday, May 22, 2019, at 10 a. m. from McClain-Hays Chapel with Rev. Jerry Bishop officiating.  Burial will follow in Tucker Cemetery in Kemper County.  Visitation will be held Tuesday, May 21, 2019, from 5 until 7 p.m. at McClain-Hays Funeral Home.  McClain-Hays Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.  Mrs. Whittle, 92, of Philadelphia, died Sunday, May 19, 2019. Loraine Kirkland Whittle was born in Kemper County on November 13, 1926, one of 11 children of Andy and Maggie Daws Kirkland.  As a child she attended school at Lynville, Shady Grove and Cleveland.  At age 17, she worked at Hardin’s Bakery in Meridian, MS.  She married Cecil Whittle on August 10, 1946, upon his return from serving in the Navy during WWII.  Loraine and Cecil farmed for seven years in Kemper County and during that time Chester Bernard Whittle was born in 1947, She Ann Whittle in 1948, and Brad O’Neil Whittle in 1950.  The family moved to Galveston, Texas in 1952, and subsequently to Lake Jackson, Texas where they lived and worked for about 30 years.  During this time Loraine got her Beautician’s Licenses, worked as a seamstress for a clothing chain, and worked security for K-Mart.  Upon Cecil’s retirement from Dow Chemical in 1980, Loraine and Cecil moved back to Mississippi and settled on their farm in Neshoba County.  Loraine attended Tucker Church, Ocobla Church, and most recently Center Hill Baptist Church. Loraine was preceded in death by her husband, Cecil Whittle; and nine siblings, Eunice Pierce, Marie Smith, Ernest Kirkland, Leslie Kirkland, Ethel Tolbert, Vester Brown, Lavelle Kirkland, Berney Kirkland, and Ester Killen. She is survived by her son, Chester Bernard Whittle; daughter, Sue Ann Whittle; son, Brad O’Neil Whittle; brother, Jerome Kirkland (Appie); and a host of nieces and nephews. Pallbearers are Glen Whittle, Robert Whittle, Brian Whittle, Jim Whittle, Ricky Cleveland and Delton Killen.