Extracted from The Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)
Saturday, December 28, 2002

James Fillingame Jr.

James Andrew Fillingame, Jr. 82, of Bay St. Louis, MS died Friday, December 27, 2002. He was born in Gulfport, MS Sept. 13, 1920 and lived in Bay St. Louis since 1949.

He was a member of First Baptist Church on Main Street for over fifty years where he served as Life Deacon and Trustee. In the early years he served as Boy Scout master for the church troop and he served for many years as a Sunday School teacher. He helped establish the Bayside Baptist Church and was a volunteer missionary for a number of years in the U.S., Peru, Africa and Honduras.

He served in the U.S. Navy Seabees during W W II as an electrician's mate First Class in the South Pacific, and was commended for his participation in the capture of the Peleliu Islands.

He was a graduate of Mississippi State University and spent the first 23 years of his career as the Chief Electrical Engineer with Coast Electric Power Association in Hancock County. After a brief time at Ingalls Shipyard, his career took him to Glennallen, Alaska as manager of the Cooper Valley Electric Association. He was instrumental in designing and implementing plans for the hyddroelectric dam in Valdez, AK that today provides electricity for rural southwestern Alaska. He retired back to Bay St. Louis in 1984.

His civic affiliations included the Masons, Civitans, Lions Club and American Legion Post No. 139 in Bay St.Louis.

He was preceeded in death by his father James Andrew Fillingame Sr.; mother Lucretia Walker Fillingame Dodge; and two brothers, Orville Fillingame and Gary Fillingame.

Survivors include his wife, Ethel Mae Fortner Fillingame; a daughter, Sandra and her husband Denis Wolf of Houston, TX; sons, Drew Fillingame and his wife Sherry of Denham Springs, LA, Wayne Fillingame and his wife, Lynn of Bay St. Louis, MS, Les Fillingame and his wife Barbara of Bay St. Louis, MS, and Richard Fillingame and his wife Tammie of Long Beach,MS; 11 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29, 2002, at Riemann Funeral Home in Bay St. Louis. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 30, 2002, with visitation at 9:30 to 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Bay St. Louis. Burial will be in Evergreen Gardens Cemetery in Gulfport, MS.

The family prefers memorials to First Baptist Church of Bay St. Louis, MS Building Fund, Main St. Bay Sy. Louis, MS