Extracted from The McComb Enterprise-Journal (McComb, MS)
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Willie `Bill' Bateman Jr.

Willie Dallas ``Bill'' Bateman Jr., 44, of Lake Charles, La., died there Jan. 11, 2005, at St. Patrick's Hospital.

Services were 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at Johnson Funeral Home in Lake Charles. The Rev. Howard Holton officiated. Burial was in Consolata Cemetery.

Mr. Bateman was born the ninth of 10 children March 11, 1960, in Centreville. He was the son of Geneva Etheridge Bateman of Gloster and the late Willie Dallas Bateman.

Mr. Bateman grew up in Gloster and had lived in Lake Charles since 1980. He was a graduate of Gloster High School and attended the University of Southern Mississippi and McNeese State University. He worked at Calcasieu Marine National Bank for 16 years. In 1999, Mr. Bateman became a software engineer and later a supervisor for Northrop Grumman Corporation of Lake Charles. He loved politics. He also loved to hunt. Mr. Bateman was a loving an[d] caring father and husband.

Mr. Bateman was preceded in death by his father and his grandparents, Will Ard and Annie Kate Bateman and Marcus and Tennie Etheridge.

Survivors include his wife, Roxane Benoit Bateman of Lake Charles; a daughter, Gina Michelle Bateman of Lake Charles; a son, Trent Michael Bateman of Lake Charles; his mother; one brother and sister-in-law, Jerry and Alice Bateman of Lake Charles; eight sisters and seven brothers-in-law, Judy and Julius Costakis of Brandon, Fla., Joyce Wilkinson of Houston, Texas, Karen and Ronald Thompson of Petal, Deborah and Ryan Beaty of Hernando, Fla., Angela Smalley of Purvis, Averine ``Dusty'' and Reggie Duncan of McComb, Wilma and Farrell Holland of Meadville, and Sharon and Johnny Moore of Sumrall; and 31 nieces and nephews.

Condolences to the family may be made at www.johnsonfuneralhome.net.