Jan. 9, 1923 – April 5 2013

COLUMBIA — Graveside services for John Benton Robertson Jr., 90, who died Friday, April 5, 2013, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Jackson, will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Columbia.

Arrangements are under the direction of Riverwood Family Funeral Services in Brookhaven.

Mr. Robertson, better known as “Happy,” was born Jan. 9, 1923, in Goss, the only child of John Benton Robertson Sr. and Lillian Thompson Robertson.

Happy grew up in Columbia where he met and married his childhood sweetheart, Princess Burns. After graduating from Columbia High School, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Their first daughter, Patricia, was born in Columbia in 1944, followed by the birth of their second daughter, Ann, in 1947. In 1949, he moved his family to Brookhaven where he established his home and business, Dixie Roofing & Sheet Metal Works.

During his lifetime, Happy was a deacon at the First Baptist Church in Brookhaven, a 32nd degree Mason and Shriner and a past president of the New Orleans Chapter of the National Roofing Contractors Association.

He was an avid Mississippi State University football fan, a master at bridge, carpentry, storytelling, bass fishing, duck hunting and piloting his airplane.

Happy lived life with gusto and never doubted his ability to succeed at any endeavor he chose. He loved the Lord, his family and friends.

Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Princess; two daughters, Pat Bullen and husband, Johnny, and Ann Martin and husband, Bob; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.