ABBEVILLE — Robert Gene Ward, 71, died Saturday, July 9, 2016, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Springfield M.B. Church with burial in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held on Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hodges Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.

He is survived by his wife, Gwendolyn Ward of Abbeville; daughters Kamisha Ward and Brenda Malone, both of Abbeville, and Brandi Kelley of St. Louis, Missouri; sons Kevin Ward of Abbeville, Andre Ward of Jackson, Jeffrey Phillips of Detroit, Michigan, Richard Thompson and Robert Glenn Thompson, both of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; sisters Mary Shaw of Alton, Illinois and Mattie Sue Ward of St. Louis, Missouri; brothers James Edward Ward of Abbeville, Clayton Ward of Foristell, Missouri and Willie Lee Ward of Memphis, Tennessee; 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.