Esther C. Sims Read

Esther C. Sims Read, 92, of Tamms, died at 5 a.m. Sunday, May 16, 2010, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Joyce and Melvin Hazelwood in Fordce, Ark.

Mrs. Read was born in Elco, the daughter of John Albert Sims and Lucy Pearl Sharp Sims.

Mrs. Read was a 50-year member of the First Baptist Church in Tamms and a member of Royal Neighbors of America. She was a homemaker.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands, Alfred Seals Sr., Robert McHarry and Ernest Read; three brothers, Bill, Gene and Fred Sims; three sisters, Effie Poole, Virgie Rhymer and Martha Baldwin; and a son, Alfred Seals Jr.

Survivors include two sons, John Lee Seals of Dongola and Robert McHarry of Tamms; three daughters, Shelby Young of North Carolina, Esther Trier of Fort Myers, Fla., and Joyce (Melvin) Hazelwood of Fordce, Ark.; two sisters, Cleta Poole of Mill Creek and Erma Shelton of Jonesboro; 27 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services for Mrs. Read were at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, at Jones Funeral Home in Tamms, with the Rev. Tom Bridges officiating. Interment was in the St. John’s Cemetery in rural Dongola.

Jones Funeral Home in Tamms was in charge of arrangements.