Jesse Wilburn Parham

Video memories of Smiley ParhamMr. Jessie Wilburn "Smiley" Parham, 83, a resident of Raleigh Beard Road in the Santa Fe Community and retired from Union Carbide, died Sunday, February 13, 2005 at Maury Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Pastor Jim Maddox and Pastor J. Daniel Vannoy officiating. Burial will be in Cave Springs Cemetery with full military honors provided by the Tennessee National Guard. The family will visit with friends Monday from 5- 8p.m. and Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. Mr. Parham was a native of the Boston Community in Williamson County and was the son of the late Lawrence Jessie Parham and Elsie Lee Fox Parham. He was baptized in Jesus' name in 1958 at Emmanual Church of Christ and was a member of Straight Way Christian Church of Columbia. Mr. Parham served in the U.S. Army during World War II as S/Sgt in Co. C162 infantry from September 4, 1942 until his discharge at Ft. Shearton, Illinois on November 4, 1946. He received the Purple Heart and the Expert Rifleman medal. Survivors include the mother of his children, Evelyn Turner Parham Alexander of Linden, five children, Jessie Ray (Clydia) Parham, E. Lee (Charles) Dillehay, Norma Jean Parham (fiancée Thomas Bojko), Nancy (Billy) Stanfill, John Parham (fiancée Lori Kelly) all of Columbia; two brothers, L.D. (Lucille) Parham and Luther (Nancy) Parham both of Columbia; eight grandchildren, Amanda (Chris) Gregory, Crystal Blocker, Marissa Cobb, Daniel Cobb, April Parham, Jamie Parham, Robert Johnson, Jessica Marie Parham; eight great-grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; fifteen step-great grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a sister, Helen Potts; three infant sons, Wilburn Allen Parham, James Alton Parham, John Steven Parham; a daughter, Peggy Johnson; and three grandchildren, Jennifer Johnson Helton, Cheyenne Blocker and Patricia Maie Blocker. Pallbearers will be Daniel Cobb, Robert Johnson, Jesse James Parham, Stanley Johnson, Chris Gregory, N.O. Potts, Josh Parham, Terry Parham, Mark Parham, and Dwight Jewell. Honorary pallbearers will be past and present employees of Union Carbide.