April 17, 1931 – Feb. 27, 2013

McComb — Services for Jimmie N. Lawson, 81, of McComb, who died Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at his residence, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at South McComb Baptist Church with Dr. David Millican and the Rev. Brent Rutland officiating.

Burial will follow at the Hollywood Cemetery with full military honors under the direction of Hartman-Sharkey Funeral Home in McComb.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home and from 1 p.m. until service time Saturday at the church.

Mr. Lawson was born April 17, 1931, in Gillsburg, the son of Ernest Lawson and Mada Hinson Lawson. He was a career veteran of the U.S. Air Force and served honorably in France, Korea, Germany and Vietnam as well as a number of stateside assignments.

After retiring from the Air Force in 1972, he moved his family back to Pike County and began a successful commercial refrigeration business. Lawson Refrigeration served Pike County and the Southwest Mississippi region for the next 22 years.

Jimmie Lawson was best known as a quail hunter and had raised and trained bird dogs for most of his life. He was known for his well trained dogs and his shooting skills. He began quail hunting with his father when he was a young boy. He was an avid hunter and traveled extensively across the southern and western states in pursuit of wild quail, grouse and pheasant. He made a number of friends from all over the United States and his bird dogs hunted in the piney woods of Mississippi to the sagebrush of West Texas to the cornfields of Iowa and the northern plains of Montana.

Jimmie’s passion for gardening often produced the first tomato of the season in the community. The harvest from his gardens provided the best vegetables found on any southern table year round. His gardening secrets were readily shared with neighbors, family and anyone who asked.

Mr. Lawson was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Ed Lawson, Mervin Lawson, Willie Lawson and Robert “Tot” Lawson; and three sisters, Mrs. Hilda McGehee, Mrs. Minnie Gordon, and Mrs. Eve Griffin.

Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Myrtle Lawson; two daughters, Patricia Laster of Broomfield, Colo., and Suzan McIntrye of Vidalia; one son, Steve Lawson of Rock Hill, S.C.; David and Anita Russell of Bogue Chitto; four sisters, Mrs. Hazel Gordon and husband, D.C., of Baton Rouge, Mrs. Ruby Norris of Houston, Texas, Mrs. Nita DeBessonet and husband, Ken, of Satsuma, La., and Mrs. JoAnn Austin and husband, Bob, of Baton Rouge; and six grandchildren, Mindy and Corey Laster, Chris and Dillon McIntyre and David and Clay Russell.

Pallbearers will be Mervyn Boyd, Brent Mullins, Brain Mullins, James Allan Whittington, Mark Davis and Lee Wilson.

Honorary pallbearers will be Pender Richardson, Vaughn Lampton and Milton Burris.

The family wishes to thank the staff at Hospice Compassus for their loving care and services.

The family requests memorial donations be made to the American Cancer Society for the research of Adenocarcinoma, 607 Main St., #C, Tupelo, MS 38804 or call 662-844-8544.

Online condolences may be sent to www.hartman-sharleyfuneralhome.com.