Earl Babb

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Mr. Earl Babb, 88, died Saturday, September 18, 2021, at Baptist Memorial Hospital North Mississippi.  The funeral service will be Thursday, September 23, 2021, at 2:00 P.M. at New Prospect Baptist Church in Oxford, MS with Rev. Buster Wilson officiating.  Visitation will be prior to the service beginning at 12:00 Noon.  A graveside service will follow at Paris Cemetery.

Mr. Babb was born in 1933 in Paris, MS, to the late Fonzo and Mary Goodwin Babb. He was a 32nd Degree Mason, and was a member of the Lafayette County School Board for twelve years.  He made his profession of faith in 1947 at Paris Baptist Church, where he would later serve as a deacon. Mr. Babb attended Northwest Community College on an Athletic Scholarship, where he played basketball, football, and baseball.  A veteran of the U.S. Army, Mr. Babb served from 1953-1955, which included time stationed in Germany.  Mr. Babb retired from the MS Department of Agriculture where he worked as an inspector in the Consumer Protection Division for twenty-five years.  He was instrumental in establishing the multi-purpose building in Lafayette County, MS.  Serving on the election commission in Lafayette County for nine years, he loved to dabble in politics.  An avid hunter, Mr. Babb developed a love for coon and rabbit hunting at the age of ten, a passion that stayed with him into his eighties.  He found great joy in tending to his garden each summer.  In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife of sixty-one years, Nancy Jones Babb; three brothers, Billy D. Babb of Paris, MS, Fonzo Babb, Jr. of Paris, MS, and Ralph Henry “Bubby” Babb of Southaven, MS; and two sisters, Shirley Faye Babb McPhail of Oxford, MS, and Sarah Norris of Coldwater, MS.

Mr. Babb is survived by a daughter, Michelle Babb Powell and her husband, Stephen of Southaven, MS; three sons, Rickey Babb and his wife, Becky of Oxford, MS, Mickey Babb and his wife, Tiffany of Oxford, MS, and Anthony Earl “Tony” Babb of Paris, MS; two sisters, Patsy Babb Vaughn of Jackson, TN, and Deborah Babb Collums of Paris, MS; one brother, Kenny Burl Babb of Oxford, MS; as well as nine grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

Expressions of sympathy or memorial contributions in Mr. Babb’s memory may be made to the Paris Cemetery Fund, c/o Betty Mize, 86 County Road 479, Paris, MS 38949,  or to New Prospect Baptist Church, 823 Highway 334, Oxford, MS, 38655 or online at https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/1288901.