ALBEMARLE — Beatrice “Bea” Irene Fisher Connell, 55, 613 Gurley St., died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at Stanly Memorial Hospital.

Born May 29, 1944, in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Connell was a daughter of the late Clayburn and Carrie Dale Fisher. A homemaker, she attended church at First Assembly.

Survivors include husband William Eddie Connell; sons Troy Connell, Albemarle, and Scott Connell, Locust Grove, Va.; daughters Page Furbee, Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and Stacy Harward, Norwood; brother Thomas Fisher, Virginia; sisters Phyllis Foard, New Market, Va., and Connie Jones, Los Angeles; and 10 grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Hartsell Funeral Home, conducted by the Rev. Bob Gruver.

Visitation: 7-9 tonight at the funeral home. At other times the family will be at the home of her father-in-law, Everette Connell, 2204 E. Main St.

Memorials: American Cancer Society, Stanly County, 500 E. Morehead St., Suite 211, Charlotte, N.C. 28202.

Joseph Fredrick Goodman

Joseph Frederick Goodman, 89, Salisbury, died Monday (April 3, 2000) at The Laurels of Salisbury.

Born March 20, 1911, in Rowan County, Mr. Goodnight was a son of the late Edwin Lee and Ellen Cress Goodnight. Educated in the Rowan County schools, he was employed with Salisbury Marble and Granite Co. in his earlier life. He later owned and operated Central Cash Grocery on N.C. 150. He was a member of Bethel LutheranChurch.

A daughter, Betty Jo Smith Walker, died in June 1997.

Survivors include wife Ada Shuping Goodnight, whom he married in June 1934; daughters Mary Newcombe,Charlotte, and Nellie Wagoner, Greenville, S.C.; sisters Allie Shulenburger, Salisbury, and Frances Bianchi, Alexandria, Va.; seven grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Services: Graveside, 11 a.m. Wednesday, Bethel Lutheran Church cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Mark A. Reed.

Visitation: 6:30-8 tonight, Summersett Funeral Home.

Memorials: Bethel Lutheran Church, 355 E. Ridge Road, Salisbury, N.C. 28144.

Conroe Griffin

KANNAPOLIS — Conroe Griffin, 84, 116 Crescent St., died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at NorthEast Medical Center, Concord, after a lengthy illness.

Born March 24, 1916, in Union County, Mr. Griffin was a son of the late Lonnie Wilson and Docia Moser Griffin. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he served in combat in Central Europe.

He retired in 1978 after 32 years with Cannon Mills, Plant 10, cloth room. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

Survivors include wife Rosemary Godfrey Griffin; daughters Sarah Bowers, Kannapolis, and Joan Hughes, Rocky Mount; brother WilsonGriffin, Concord; sisters Katherine Canup, Concord, and Virginia Taylor, Monroe; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Whitley’s FuneralHome Chapel, conducted by the Rev. Tom Tucker and the Rev. Rodney Hughes. Burial, Carolina Memorial Park. Military rites by DAVChapter 27.

Visitation: 7-8:30 tonight at the funeral home. At other times the family will be at the home.

Memorials: Calvary Baptist Church, Building Fund, 703 Buick Ave., Kannapolis,N.C. 28081.

Stacey Lynn Holshouser

CHINA GROVE — The funeral will be Wednesday for Stacey Lynn Holshouser, 17, 137 Second Ave., who died Saturday (April 1, 2000) at Gaston Memorial Hospital, Gastonia.

Born March 20, 1983, in Mecklenburg County, Miss Holshouser was a daughter of Jeffery Bryan and Angela Parrish Holshouser, China Grove. Educated in the Rowan County schools, she was a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church, Kannapolis.

Survivors, in addition to her parents, include sister Erica Danielle Holshouser, China Grove; maternal grandparents Willis and Shelby Parrish, Kannapolis; paternal grandparents Donnie and Jeannie Holshouser, Salisbury, and Joann and Mitch Weaver, Concord; and paternal great-grandmother Josie Lackey, Granite Quarry.

Services: 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Kannapolis, conducted by the Rev. Steve Sexton and the Rev. Willis Parrish. Burial, Carolina Memorial Park, Concord.

Visitation: 7-9 tonight, Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home,China Grove.

Norman Johnny McDaniel

ROCKWELL — Norman Johnny McDaniel, 67, Rockwell, died Saturday (April 1, 2000) at the Hefner VAMedical Center, Salisbury, after a period of declining health.

Born July 11, 1932, in Armstrong County, Texas, Mr. McDaniel was a son of the late John Abram and Viola Hill McDaniel. Educated in the Mississippi schools, he had retired as a welder with a tractor manufacturer.

Survivors include son Terry Wayne McDaniel, Illinois; daughters Sharlon Claxton, Rockwell, and Rosemary Sak, Illinois; and four grandchildren.

Services: None. The body will be cremated.

Evergreen Cremation Services in charge.

Freddie Lee Lanier

MOCKSVILLE — The funeral will be Wednesday for Freddie Lee Lanier, 85, formerly of Fred Lanier Road, who died Monday (April 3, 2000) at Scenic View Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in King.

BornJan. 11, 1915, in Davie County, Miss Lanier was a daughter of the late Fred Holden and Mary Jane Grubb Lanier. She had worked for Hanes Hosiery for more than 40 years.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Eaton Funeral Home, conducted by the Rev. R.C. Redmond and the Rev. Carroll Jordan. Burial, Ijames Crossroads Baptist Church cemetery.

Visitation: 7-9 tonight at the funeral home.

Mary Ann McDaniel

Mary Ann McDaniel, 79, formerly of Parkview Circle, died Tuesday (April 4, 2000) at Genesis ElderCare of Salisbury.

Summersett Funeral Home is in charge.

Ira S. ‘Bud’ Mills

CONCORD — Ira S. “Bud” Mills, 67, 546 Goldmoor Drive N.E., died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at the Hefner VAMedical Center, Salisbury.

Services: Memorial, 7 tonight, Epworth United Methodist Church.

Visitation: 5:30-7 tonight at the church.

Whitley’s Funeral Home, Kannapolis, is in charge.

Memorials: Epworth United Methodist Church, 1030 Burrage Road, Concord, N.C. 2025.

Irene S. Oates

KANNAPOLIS — Irene S.Oates, 84, formerly of Kannapolis, died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at Port Orange, Fla.

Born in Rowan County in 1915, she was the daughter of the late Eli and Anne Sifford. She spent 49 years with Cannon Mills before her 1981 retirement. She was a member of Centerview Baptist Church when she lived in Kannapolis.

Survivors include son James “Jim” E. Oates, Cypress, Calif.; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Services: 2 p.m. Wednesday, Whitley’s Funeral Home Chapel, conducted by the Rev. William Rash. Burial, Rowan Memorial Park,Salisbury.

Visitation: Noon-2 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Memorials: Shoshannah Tempest, River View ALF, 4714 Halifax Drive, Port Orange, Fla. 32127.

Ormond Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements in Florida.

Connie Moore Ratliff

The funeral will be Wednesday for Connie Moore Ratliff, 77, 360 Holly Ave., who died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at 2920 Raymond Ave.

Born July 4, 1922, in Chesterfield County, S.C., Mrs. Ratliff was a daughter of the late Jafus L. and Minnie Sellers Moore. She was a graduate of Mount Croghan High School in South Carolina.

She co-owned Connie and Hessie Florist from 1970 until her retirement. She was a charter member of GospelLight Baptist Church.

She is survived by her husband, Haywood J. Ratliff, whom she married Feb. 8, 1948.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Summersett Funeral Home Memorial Chapel, conducted by the Rev. Ron Bankson, pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church. Burial, Rowan Memorial Park.

Visitation: 10-11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

Arthur ‘A.W.’ Tucker Jr.

SOCASTEE, S.C. — Arthur “A.W.” Winlow Tucker Jr., 64, Socastee, died Sunday (April 2, 2000) at his home.

Born April 3, 1935, in Greer, Mr. Tucker was a son of Mary Koon Tucker, Salisbury, N.C., and the late Arthur W. Tucker. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, he was a life member of the Disabled American Veterans.

A daughter, Linda Tucker, preceded him in death.

Survivors, in addition to his mother, include wife Nancy Blanton Tucker; son Mike Tucker, Myrtle Beach; daughters Jan T. Eberwein,Garden City Beach, and Sherry T. Stoneking and Shanna Tucker, both of Myrtle Beach; sisters Edna Frazier, Holden Beach, N.C., and Gladys Hardman and Evelyn Richardson, both of Salisbury, N.C.; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Murrells Inlet Church of God, Murrells Inlet, conducted by the Rev. Greg Brock and the Rev. Vernon Soles. Burial, Hillcrest Cemetery.

Visitation: 6-8 tonight, Goldfinch Funeral Home, Beach Chapel, Murrells Inlet.

Francis A. McFarland

A memorial service for the Rev. Francis A. McFarland, remembered here for a lost Bible that changed his life, will be conducted Sunday in Raleigh.

Mr. McFarland died in Wales on March 22. He had been ill since he suffered a stroke in late January.

He was the son of the late Rev. and Mrs. Wilbur G. McFarland. The family lived in Salisbury while his father was pastor of Coburn Memorial United Methodist Church.

When Mr. McFarland graduated from Boyden High School in 1943 and joined the Navy, his father gave him a Bible that ultimately took him into the ministry in Wales.

He took the Bible with him when he went overseas, writing his name beneath his father’s. But he lost it while his naval group was establishing an evacuation hospital in Wales for the invasion of Normandy.

A Welsh boy, Tom Hackett, found it when he was 12, and on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II, he decided to try to find the owner.

He did so with the help of a Maritime chaplain and Annie Laurie Cooke, Coburn’s church historian.

By that time Mr. McFarland had become a Methodist minister himself. But he nearly died of a stroke when he was 39 years old. If he lived, doctors said, he’d never work again, so he retired from the ministry.

But he lived, and within a year he had gone to work as a counselor for the N.C. Department of Rehabilitation, eventually moving up to an executive position.

In 1987, three years after Hackett found him, he retired.

By that time he had visited Wales, where he learned that 16 small churches on the Pembrokeshire Circuit of the Methodist Church had no pastor. Convinced he’d been called by God, he and his wife, Ellen, sold their home in Garner, gave their things to their children and went to Wales, where they have lived for the past 13 years.

Survivors, in addition to his wife, include son Tim McFarland, Wendell; daughters Mary Massey, Fuquay-Varina, Susan McFarland, Wendell, and Donna French,Woodstock, Ga.; and twin brother Dr. Wilbur Galloway McFarland, Burlington.

Services: Memorial service, 2:30 p.m. Sunday,Trinity United Methodist Church, Raleigh, conducted by the Rev. Barry Barbour and the Rev. James Harry. Burial, Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Durham.