Palestine High School Alumni Association

James Tucker Stovall 1963 Born 06-01-1945 Died 11-07-1968 Age 23

06 / 01 / 1945  –  11 / 07 / 1968

Last rites for 2nd Lieutenant James Tucker (Jimmy) Stovall, co-captain of Palestine High School’s 1962 football team, are scheduled for 3 p.m. today in the First Christian Church here with Dr. Robert L. Badgett officiating. Burial will follow in Tennessee Colony Cemetery.  Lt. Stovall died November 7, 1968 from wounds received while on active duty with the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War.  Military honors both at the funeral and at the graveside services will be accorded by personnel from Waco.

Named as honorary pallbearers for the funeral are Ed Sewell, Jack Fralick, David Hanson, Roy Burrel, Chuck Taylor, Jerry Alexander, Ray Smith, Jr., Luke Thornton, Tom Ball, Jimmy Groh, James Becker, and Howard Calcote, along with other friends and relatives of the family.

Lt. Stovall was born June 1, 1945, in Wharton, Texas, and was the son of the late Walter Durrell Stovall, Sr., and Mrs. Mae Emma Farris Stovall.  He moved with his family to Palestine when he was a second grader and graduated from Palestine High School in 1963.

Later attending Navarro Junior College at Corsicana, where he was named “Most Popular Boy” on campus. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from McMurray College at Abilene in August 1967.

At McMurray, he was vice-president of the senior class and a member of Alpha Sigma Chi Social Club. He was a guard on the McMurray football team and was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.

In October 1967, he entered service and received his basic training at Quantico, Virginia and engineers training at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on January 5, 1968.

The body is to be at Hassell & Foster Funeral Home here until taken to the church for last rites. Lt. Robert Dietrick will be special honor escort for the detail which will accompany the body to the church and to graveside.

The family has requested that memorial contributions be mailed to Dr. Ralph Hester at McMurray College in Abilene, where the college’s field house and gymnasium have been named in honor of Lt. Stovall.

Lt. Stovall is survived by his widow, Mrs. Carol Sewell Stovall of Brownfield; a brother, W. D. Stovall, Jr., of Baytown; two sisters, Mrs. Phyllis Fralick and Mrs. Patti Hanson, both of Katy.; a grandmother, Mrs. Vera Farris of Palestine; two uncles, James H, Farris and Tucker R. Farris, both of Palestine; five aunts, Mrs. A. A. Jenkins and Mrs. A. A. Owen of Palestine, Mrs. M. C. Kelly of Houston, Mrs. W. E. Reed and Mrs. P. D. Phillips, both of Dallas; six nephews and two nieces.

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Source: Palestine Herald-Press 11-10-1968