Extracted from The McComb Enterprise-Journal (McComb, MS)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Rev. Bobby D. Bateman

The Rev. Bobby Doyle Bateman, 73, of Gloster, died Aug. 29, 2004, in Baker, La.

Visitation is 6 to 9 tonight at Brown Funeral Home in Gloster, and 9 a.m. Wednesday until services there at 11 a.m. The Rev. Walter Bateman, assisted by the Rev. Max Foreman and the

Rev. Billy Frank Gerald, will officiate. Burial will be in New Hope Cemetery in Gloster.

Rev. Bateman was born Jan. 8, 1931, in Amite County. He was the son of Joel Frank Bateman and Hattie Leggett Bateman.

He was a retired minister of the Methodist-Protestant Church. He was also retired from Ford Motor Co. in Baton Rouge, La. He was a former general conference president of the Methodist-Protestant Church.

Rev. Bateman was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Geraldine Day Bateman.

Survivors include his wife, Doris Goodwin Bateman of Gloster; two daughters and one son-in-law, Linda and Billy Stephens of Zachary, La., and Judy Westbrook of Denham Springs, La.; one brother, the Rev. Walter Bateman of Cleveland, Tenn.; three sisters, Viola Harrell of Walker, La., Elloise Cummins of Millington, Tenn., and Annie Grace Wilkinson of Jackson, La.; five grandchildren, Wayne Verbois, Tiffany Lollar, Joy Bogie, Jennie Westbrook Bennett and Bobby D. Westbrook; and four great-grandchildren, Justin Verbois, Leann and Hunter Cox, and Ashlynn Rome.

Pallbearers will be Wayne Verbois, Chris Lollar, Bobby D. Westbrook, Glen Butler, Freddie Cook and Butch Shuckrow. Honorary pallbearers will be General Conference ministers of the Methodist-Protestant Church of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in memory of the Rev. Bobby Doyle Bateman to Genisis Hospice, 5100 Groom Road, Baker, LA 70714 or the General Conference of the Methodist-Protest Church for Missions, 716 Highway 84, Collins, MS 39428.