BRUCE – Sylvester Mitchell, 72, formerly of Oxford, died Monday, March 7, 2016, at his residence in Bruce. Funeral services will be held on Friday at 12 p.m. at Philadelphia M.B. Church with burial in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and family hour from 6-7 p.m. in the Vera Mae Hodges Chapel of Remembrance at Hodges Funeral Homes, which is in charge of arrangements.

He was a retired truck driver for Motts and T.G. Baker.

He is survived by his friend and caretaker, Arnetta Hooper of Bruce; sons Sylvester Westbrook of Oxford, Michael Mitchell of Memphis, Tennessee, Darrell Mitchell of Olive Branch and Melvin D. Mitchell of Detroit, Michigan; daughter Lenora Jones of Memphis, Tennessee; stepchildren Melvin Purnell of Grenada, Gwendolyn Purnell of Memphis, Tennessee, Reginald Steen, Calvin Hooper and Sharon Hooper, all of Bruce, and Joyce Rogers of Houston; four sisters, Mildred Miller, Jeanette Johnson, Minder Porter and Annie Laura Porter, all of Memphis, Tennessee; brother George Porter of Memphis, Tennessee; 31 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.