James R. Hankins, who served as Leflore County coroner for some 32 years, was remembered today as a gentleman as well as a skilled professional.
“You couldn’t ask for a finer or greater gentleman or better role model for the kids,” said close family friend Dale Persons.
Mr. Hankins, 87, died Thursday at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Williams & Lord Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until the time of service at the funeral home.
The Rev. Veronica Pritchard and Dr. Billy Ray Stonestreet will officiate. Burial will be in Odd Fellows East Cemetery.
Mr. Hankins was elected coroner in 1963. He stepped down in 1995.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks said Mr. Hankins was always helpful.
“I knew him for, I guess, 40 years. He’s the only coroner I knew until he retired,” the sheriff said.
Mr. Hankins earned a degree in embalming from the Gupton- Jones School of Embalming in 1948. He served as funeral director and embalmer at Williams & Lord Funeral Home from 1954 until his retirement in 1998.
Not only would he deal with the handling the body, but his knowledge of pathology would aid the department’s investigation, Banks said.
“In the old days, we didn’t have a medical examiner. We had to take bodies to Greenwood Leflore Hospital, where they had a pathologist perform the autopsy,” the sheriff said.
Banks said he stayed in contact with Mr. Hankins through the years.
Mr. Hankins was the son of Claude Rhew and Ollie Hankins. He was born in Cascilla and graduated from Cascilla High School. He had lived in Greenwood since 1954.
He was a U.S. Army veteran who served in World War II.
He was a member of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 118 and American Legion Post 29 and a past member of the Greenwood Public Housing Commission.
He was a charter member and past president of the Greenwood Exchange Club and a former president of the Greenwood School Board, where he served for 23 years.
He was a member of St. John’s United Methodist Church.
As his health deteriorated, he maintained a strong, positive outlook, said Persons.
“He didn’t complain. He fought it like the great veteran that he was,” Persons said.
Mr. Hankins is survived by his wife of 34 years, Mary Sue Hankins, as well as a daughter, two brothers, a sister, three grandsons and four great-grandchildren.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
