Alice Marie "Rita" Shannon Services for Alice Marie "Rita" Shannon will be held Monday November 5 at 1pm at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home Chapel with Reverend Jimmy Garrard officiating. Burial will be in Bethany Baptist Church Cemetery in the Whynot community. Mrs. Shannon died Saturday November 3, 2012 at her home following a lengthy illness. Harpers Hospice gave exceptional care. The family would like to thank Crystal Holloman and Chandra Mathis for their friendship and loving care they provided. Mrs. Shannon lived in the Whynot community most of her life surrounded by her beautiful yard and flowers. Her hobbies were dirt races and her favorite cars were the Rebel, Big 6, 48 and K-3. She also loved NASCAR racing, and in the early years she pulled for Terry Labonte and then Tony Stewart. Something else that people may have not known about Rita was she loved watching golf and she also played the horn in her high school band in Butler, Al. Her winning smile and the true flare of a temper will be missed greatly by all that loved her. She had a lot of special friends over the years that were true to her heart, Brother Jimmy Garrard, Anna, Doug and Randy Thompson, Jeff Fuller, Johnny Stokes, Mike Boland, Bonnie Boland, Randy Boyd, Sylvia Allen, Sharon Rose, Eloise and Tommy Joe Butler, Deloris Reynolds, Ann Rolison, Judy Chitwood, Waylon Temple, her house keeper Fred Johnson, and Marie Melancon and Jay Jenkins. She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Goodman (Tommy) Shannon, her son, James Leslie (Coot) Ford, JR, 2 sisters Dorothy Jean King and Elsie Long, and brother Buddy Long and her parents, Asia and Bryant Long. Survivors include a brother Larry Long and sister Betty Gail Davis, her 2 daughters, Jerri and her husband John Winfield of Brandon, and Joanie and her husband Bobby Boyd of Whynot. Grandchildren include Lance Allen, Susan Ford Villalobez, Leslie "Tody" Ratcliff, Jennifer Ratcliff Stallings, Brandon Winfield, and Ashley Winfield Dickerson, as well as 9 great grandchildren, with 2 on the way. Pallbearers include Randy Boyd, Jeff Fuller, Johnny Stokes, Mike Boland, Buddy Bennette, Jimbo McDuffie, Randy Thompson, and Doug Thompson. Visitation will be Monday from 11 am until service time. Family and Friends may sign the online guestbook at robertbarhamffh.com.
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