Extracted from The News-Star (Monroe, LA)
Tuesday, January 25, 2005

CLEO HENRY JAMES

Cleo Henry James was born Cleo Marguerite Gentry on April 22, 1917, in Winn Parish, Louisiana, and died in Monroe, Louisiana, on Monday, January 24, 2005.

Services will be held at Parkview Baptist Church on Forsythe Avenue in Monroe at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, Janu ary 26, 2005, under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Monroe, Louisiana, with Dr. Whit Holmes and Rev. Terry Barnes officiating. Interment will follow in the Columbia Cemetery under the direction of Riser Funeral Home of Columbia, Louisiana.

Visitation is Tuesday evening, January 25, 2005, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Kilpatrick Funeral Home on Lamy Lane, Monroe, Louisiana, and Wednesday, January 26, 2005, from 1:00 PM until service at Parkview Baptist Church.

Mrs. James graduated from Ouachita Parish High School after which she attended Northeast Junior College in Monroe, Louisiana. She married Sam O. Henry, Jr., in 1935, and established a home in Caldwell Parish where she lived until she moved to Monroe in the early 1990's. Several years after the death of her first husband, she married J. Clyde James, who predeceased her in 1986.

Mrs. James was a business woman and was the owner and operator of the Ritz Theater and thereafter the owner and proprietor of Henry's Furniture and Gifts, both in Columbia, Louisiana.

She was a member of the Daughters of Confederacy, Bayou DeSiard Country Club, Monroe Garden Club, Monroe Book Club, English Speaking Union, First Baptist Church of Columbia, Louisiana, and there after Parkview Baptist Church in Monroe, Louisiana, and Friends Sunday School Class. She was also a member of several bridge clubs and actively played until a few weeks prior to her death.

Survivors include two children of the first marriage, namely, Sam O. Henry, III, and his wife, Shearon, of West Monroe, Louisiana, and Gwen Henry Hardy of Monroe, Louisiana; seven grandchildren, Sam O. Henry, IV, and his wife, Amanda, of West Monroe, Pamela Henry Brawner and her husband, Jeff, of Dallas, Texas, Karen Henry Clarke and her husband, Dan, of Dallas, Texas, and Michael R. Henry, of Monroe, William Joseph Hardy, Jr., and his wife, Catherine, of Monroe, Kendra Hardy France and her husband, Kyle, of Covington, Louisiana, Christa Hardy Swiger and her husband, Johnny, of Mande ville, Louisiana; twelve great grandchildren, Anna Katherine France, Mary Martin France, William (Will) J. Hardy, III, Sarah Elizabeth Swiger, Mary Grace Swiger, Katherine Shearon Brawner, Sarah Anne Brawner, Margaret Beauchamp Brawner, Ainsley Marguerite Clarke, Caroline Ashford Clarke, Elizabeth Gentry Clarke and Cayden Michael Henry; and one brother, Andrew J. Gentry; a host of friends, and especially her friend, Betty B. Jackson.

A special thanks to Hospice Care of Louisiana. Mrs. James touched many lives over the years whose lives will forever be enhanced.

Mrs. James was preceded in death by her parents, Horace and Cuma Erskine Gentry, a brother, Dalton Gentry, and three sisters, Inez Gentry Eaves, Ruth Gentry Guillory and Louise Gentry Miller, and son-in-law, William J. Hardy.

Pallbearers will be David G. Erskine, Johnny W. James, W. Ford Pipes, Jr., Don Valentine, Andrew J. Gentry, Jr., Gary E. Gentry and Dr. E. D. Coates, Jr. The family asks that memorials be made to the Parkview Baptist Church Building Fund, Monroe, Louisiana, or Columbia Hill Cemetery Association, Columbia, Louisiana.