Funeral services for Francis Joe Speights are Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at 11 a.m. at Riverwood Family Funeral Service with burial in Easthaven Cemetery.

Visitation was held from 5:30 until 8 p.m. Tuesday and will continue today at 10 a.m.  at Riverwood.

Mr. Speights, 85, died Monday, July 18, 2016. He was born Feb. 27, 1931 in Jefferson Davis County to Joe Speights and Lula Polk Speights.

He was a retired licensed civil engineer, United States Army veteran, past president of the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce, and deacon and member of Easthaven Baptist Church. Mr. Speights graduated from Monticello High School and obtained a degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University in 1953. While at MSU, he was a member of the MSU baseball team and captain of a Scabbard and Blade Drill Team. As a licensed civil engineer, he engineered and constructed over 300 safe bridges and many miles of roads. He loved his church family and especially enjoyed his work with the construction of the current church facilities.

Mr. Speights was a devoted husband for 63 years to his beloved wife, Frances Lee Speights.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Joe Speights and Lula Polk Speights; and one daughter, Betsy Ann Speights.

Survivors are his daughter, Pam Speights Harrison and husband, Joel; son, Joseph Scott Speights and wife, Sharon; and three grandchildren, Laura Jill Speights, Anna Francis Speights, and Luke James Harrison.

Memorials may be made to Easthaven Baptist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 882, Brookhaven, MS 39602 or Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village, 114 Market Ridge Road, Ridgeland, MS, 39157.

To express your thoughts to the family, you may visit riverwoodfamily.com and click on his name to leave a comment.