JACKSONVILLE: Funeral services for Eli Thomas Malone, 87, will be Sunday, June 9, 2013 at Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Anniston at 2 p.m. with Rev. Dr. Mack Amos and Rev. Jim Wilson officiating, K. L. Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Jacksonville, directing services. A reception will follow the service in the Fireside Room at Parker Memorial. A private burial will be in Jacksonville City Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Jacksonville State University Alumni House on Monday, June 10, 2013 from 4-6 p.m. Mr. Malone died Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at Jacksonville Health and Rehabilitation.

He is survived by his wife, Sylvia Strickland Malone; a daughter, Katherine Eugenia Malone-France and her husband, Derek of Washington, D.C.; a sister, Eugenia Malone Zallen and her husband Harold of Auburn and a niece, Phyllis Malone Porter and her husband Everett of Woodstock, Georgia.

Pallbearers will be Thomas Pruitt, Brian Carter, Joe Maloney, Rayshawn Salter, Mike Simms and Earlon McWhorter.

Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Theron Montgomery, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Nunnelley, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Darwin Hardison, Ms. Daisy Smith, Mrs. Sara Mell Edwards and Ms. Dean Mathis.

Mr. Malone was a member of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville for 50 years and served on its Board of Deacons. In recent years, he was a member of the Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Anniston. He received BS and MS degrees from the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University) and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society. He taught history at Valley High School in Fairfax, AL from 1949-1952. He taught and later served as the Director of Guidance at the Jacksonville High School from 1952-1983. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center for 28 years. He also served on the Boards of Directors of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Jacksonville Community Concert and the Jacksonville City Library. He served in the US Army, Headquarters 3181st Signal Service Battalion in World War II. He was a lifelong member of the Democratic Party. He was the recipient of the Jacksonville Exchange Club Book of Golden Deeds in 1978.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University (Office of Development 317 South College Street, Auburn, AL 36849) or the Regional Medical Center Memorial Foundation/Employee Benevolence Fund (PO Box 2208, Anniston, AL 36202).