LESTER BEAIRD

SIKESTON -- Funeral service for Lester A. Beaird of Sikeston will be held at 11 a.m. today at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel. Dr. Richard Long and the Rev. Lance Smith will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery.

Beaird, 77, died Thursday, July 31, 1997, at his home.

He was born Feb. 16, 1920, at Bernie, son of Charles Andrew and Ida Belle Ballard Beaird. He and Jewell Ellis were married July 30, 1941, at Malden.

Beaird had been a mechanic with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 513 in St. Louis, had worked at Fabick Equipment Co. in Sikeston, and at W.L. Ramsey International Harvester in Parma. He attended Calvary Temple Assembly of God Church. Beaird served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.

Survivors include his wife; three sons, Dale Beaird of Percy, Ill., and Harold and Caroll Beaird of Sikeston; a daughter, Sharon Jones of Sikeston; 10 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

He was preceded in death by six brothers and three sisters.