Ed Wilkerson, son of Iris Wilkerson, who was born and raised in Petrey and farmed in the Petrey area all his life, passed away last Friday after a long battle with cancer.

The funeral was held at Turner Chapel in Luverne on Sunday and the interment was at the Petrey Cemetery (see obituary).

Wilkerson had so many friends that the crowd at the funeral filled and overflowed Turner Chapel. Our hearts go out to Iris, his wife, Marie and to all the members of his family.

May the Lord comfort all that knew and loved Ed.

n

n

n

Laura Elliott attended the Alabama Community Colleges Conference in Birmingham Nov. 21-23.

Elliot joined a group from Lurleen B. Wallace Community College, including President Edward Meadows, and other Adult Education teachers from Luverne, Greenville and Covington County.

Elliott said the workshops on Adult Education were very helpful.

n

n

n

Curtis and Nancy Petrey had a wonderful trip to Arvada, Colo., a suburb of Denver, last week to visit their son Jim and his family.

Besides fun times with the granddaughters, some other activities included attending a holiday musical, "The 1940s Radio Hour," at the Arvada Center, going Christmas shopping, visiting the Buffalo Bill Museum in the mountains and attending a Providence Community Church care group after Thanksgiving dinner.

On the return trip, going through security in the Denver airport terminal, the Petreys met Brandon Watson, the grandson of Melvin and Ann Davis from Luverne. It's a small world, as they say.

Watson and his wife of one week, Paige Mobley of Abbeville and a friend of Kayla Petrey, and her parents were returning from a skiing trip. Brandon will soon be going to Iraq, so let's pray for his safety. He will leave for Ft. Benning on Dec. 14. After six weeks of training, he will likely be deployed to Saudi Arabia and then probably on to Baghdad, where he will be hauling tanks.

n

n

n

Scott and Laura Elliott entertained their extended family of 18 in their home for Thanksgiving.

This included Ronald and Kay Petrey and all their family.

n

n

n

Correction: During Thanksgiving week, Valeta Spradley hosted her daughter Carole Hinshaw, who drove up from Orlando, Fla. with her new daughter-in-law Maria on Wednesday. Hinshaw's son Darren and his friend Kevin Murphree came early to do some hunting.

All four of them returned home on Saturday.

n

n

n

Petrey welcomes a new resident!

Tara Bevelheimer, originally from Nebraska, works at W. L. Petrey Wholesale Company and moved to Troy several years ago to be near her sisters in Ramer and Troy and to attend Troy University. She moved to Petrey in September.

Bevelheimer has custody of her seven-year-old niece Dariah who is in the first grade in Luverne.

Tara's sister, Tania Green, was in an accident and is paralyzed. In December Tania will be moving into a house two doors down from Tara (formerly occupied by Roy and Amy Mills).

Anita Gallander, the mother of Tara's boyfriend, Greg Gallander, will move in with Tania and take care of her and her two children, Payton and Lauren Green from Troy.

Tara said she likes living in Petrey.

"It is quiet, like Mayberry after 7 p.m.," she said. "There's no traffic."

We welcome Tara and Dariah to Petrey and look forward to welcoming Anita Gallander, Tania Green and her children, Payton and Lauren.

n

n

n

Laura Elliott is planning a bus trip to Montgomery next week for senior citizens and anyone who would like to go shopping at the Eastdale Mall.

Those who are interested can contact Elliott at 335-5205 or 335-3319, Ext. 4.

This Tuesday a bus load went to Montgomery to tour the Capitol and Governor's Mansion and to meet with Governor Riley.

There will be more news in the next issue about this trip.

n

n

n

Advent season has begun, the countdown to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, originally known as Yeshua Messiah (Hebrew).

It is a season of hope, and, hopefully, all of us will be like the wise men and "seek Him who is King of the Jews."

A prescription for the often frantic and weary round of shopping, programs and parties can be found in the simple admonition to "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [basic needs] will be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33).

n

n

n

If you have any comments, suggestions or information you would like to submit to this

column, call Mrs. Petrey at 335-6700.