Jesse Roderick Sparkman, Iii

JESSE SPARKMAN - Jesse Roderick Sparkman, III, age 84, of Cooksville, MS, and Columbus, MS, passed away December 6, 2023, at Baptist Memorial Hospital.  Visitation will be Friday, December 8, 2023, from 9:30 AM until 11:00 AM at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.  A graveside service will be Friday, December 8, 2023 at 12:30 PM at Cooksville Methodist Church Cemetery with military honors.  Rev. Glenn Miller and Rev. Don Chancellor will officiate with Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home & Crematory in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Sparkman was born January 4, 1939, in Macon, MS, to the late Jesse Roderick and Mattie Watt Sparkman, Jr.  He was a graduate of Macon High School and East Mississippi Community College where he was a Junior College Football All American as an offensive lineman.  He later attended the University of Tennessee and Mississippi State University.  Mr. Sparkman served in the United States Marine Corp.  He was a retired farmer after many years where he farmed and lived on the Sparkman family farm in Cooksville.  He was a member of the EMCC Sports Hall of Fame.  Mr. Sparkamn attended the Cooksville Methodist Church and St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
Survivors include his wife, Ann Sparkman of Columbus, MS, son, Derek Sparkman and his wife Ginger of Cooksville, MS, daughters, Lauren Sparkman and her husband Greg Miller of Fairhope, AL, and Katie Gilmore and her husband Justin of Gulf Shores, AL, brother, John Sparkman of Jackson, MS, sister, Mary Gray Davis of Franklin, IN, grandson, Jack Miller, several nieces and a nephew, step daughters, Leslie Peel and her husband Hollis of Columbus, MS, and Betsy Lose and her husband Eddie of Birmingham, AL, and step grandchildren, Lawson Peel, Hayden Peel, and Anna Caulk.
Pallbearers will be his nephew, Bill Dewees, Lawson Peel, Hayden Peel, Sawyer Perkins, John Henry Fields, and sons-in-law.
Memorials may be made to the donor's favorite charity.