Ralph Beard Sr

Ralph Beard, Sr., 96, retired employee of Maury County Highway Department and resident of Santa Fe, died Monday, July 31, 2006, at Maury Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted at 3:00 P.M. Wednesday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Rev. Anthony Muston and Rev. Harvel Stockard officiating. Burial will be in Adkison Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 4:00 - 8:00 P.M. and Wednesday after 1:00 P.M. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Knob Creek Baptist Church Building Fund, c/o Jack Willis, 2103 Tom Fitzgerald Road, Columbia, TN 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Maury County native was the son of the late William Beard and Minnie Painter Beard Dunn. He was a member of Knob Creek Baptist Church. Survivors include his wife of seventy years, Jennie Mae Shouse Beard of Santa Fe; two daughters, Mrs. Helen Green of Culleoka; Mrs. Juanita (William J. "Bill") Smith of Columbia; two sons, Ralph Beard, Jr. and James Thomas "Tommy" (Marilyn) Beard, both of Columbia; five grandchildren, Mrs. Angela (Steve) Jones of Culleoka; Caleb (Lacey) Beard of Pulaski; Aftan (Scotty) Faulkner of Columbia; Elizabeth Smith of Chesterfield, Missouri; Michael Smith of Cookeville; and three great grandchildren, Dakota Jones and Tanner Jones, both of Culleoka, and Beckham Faulkner of Columbia. He was preceded in death by one grandson, Timothy Ralph Beard; daughter-in-law, Janie Beard; son-in-law, Gilbert Green; sisters, Gertie Hay, Christine Beard, Lillie Dial; and brothers, Zachariah Beard, Barney Beard, and Ernest "Doc" Beard. Pallbearers will be Clyde Skelley, Neal Wall, Mike Wall, Jimmy Fitzgerald, Michael Smith, Caleb Beard, Steve Jones, and Scotty Faulkner. Honorary pallbearers will be members of Knob Creek Baptist Church.