Artelle Summers

CAIRO, Ill. -- Artelle Summers, 79, of Cairo died Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 at Daystar Care Center in Cairo.

He was born Sept. 6, 1925, in Milburn, Ky., son of Fred Richardson and Ida Mae Taylor Summers. He married Julia Francis Harrison, and was a member of Tigert Memorial United Methodist Church in Cairo.

He was a retired firefighter with the city of Cairo and a retired deputy sheriff with the Alexander County Sheriff's Department.

Summers was a member of Cairo Masonic Lodge 237 AF&AM, and a 32nd-degree Mason. He was also a member of the KIM Shrine Cub of Cairo, the Ainad Shrine Temple of East St. Louis, Ill., and Cairo Elks Lodge 651.

He was a member of Cairo VFW Post 2649 and served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima and in the Korean War.

Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Cynthia Summers Platt of Atlanta, Ga., Stacy Summers Johnson of Orlando, Fla., Stephanie Summers Hemminghaus of Ashburn, Va.; two sisters, Mary Goodermote of Herrin, Ill., Norma Jean Albright of Marion, Ill.; Robert Summers of East Prairie, Mo.; and six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and a sister.

Friends may call at Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. A Masonic service will be conducted at 7:30 p.m., at the chapel by the Cairo Masonic Lodge 237 AF&AM.

The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Barkett Funeral Home, with the Rev. Kelly Cox and Bill McGee officiating. Burial will be in the Mound City National Cemetery with military honors by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Pulaski County Memorial VFW Post No. 8891 of Mounds, Ill.