John Albert Rice, Jr., age 92, formerly of Columbus died Saturday, January 29, 2011 at Azalea Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Oxford, MS. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Funeral Home. Graveside services, with military honors, will be Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 1:00 PM at Friendship Cemetery in Columbus. The Very Reverend James F. Carlyle will officiate. The son of the late John Albert and Edalie Thomas Rice, Mr. Rice was born August 20, 1918 in Compass Lake, FL. His family moved to Woodland, GA, where he graduated from high school as the valedictorian of his class. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia. He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Blue Key Honor Societies, Beta Gamma Sigma, Scabbard and Blade, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Gridiron Club. He played basket ball as a freshman and was business manager of The Red and Black , the college newspaper. After graduation from college, Mr. Rice worked in the purchasing department of U. S. Steel in Birmingham, until he volunteered for active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps. His first duty station was Barksdale Field, LA. He was transferred to the new Columbus Army Air Corps Field in 1942 to head up the ground school. He retired with the rank of Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserves. He was predeceased by his parents. Mr. Rice was associated with Searcy and Rice Insurance and Real Estate from 1946 until his retirement in 2007. He was a past director of the Mississippi Association of Insurance Agents, past president of the Northeast Insurance Association, member and past president of the Columbus Board of Realtors, and was influential in starting the Multiple Listing Service in Columbus. He developed Briarwood Subdivision and co-developed Cady Hills. He served on the advisory board of National Bank of Commerce and served on the MUW Foundation Board and Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Board. He was one of the founders of the Magnolia Tennis Club and was a member of Lake Norris Fishing Club. He also held memberships in Columbus Investment Club, Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis Club of Columbus and Columbus Country Club. He was a past chairman of the Military Affairs Committee. He received the 1992 Woodland Award given by the Lowndes County Water and Soil Conservation District. Mr. Rice is survived by his wife of 67 years Martha Lide Searcy Rice, his son John A. Rice, III (Beth) , all of Oxford, MS; his daughters Diane Rice Carter ( Wayne) of Henderson, NV and Katherine Rice OConnor of Birmingham, AL. He is also survived by five granddaughters Tiffany Stephens, Natalie McDonald, Marion Hinson, Lisa Britton and Connie Moss and eight great grandchildren. The family requests memorials to the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc. , P.O. Box 531313, Henderson, NV 89053.
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