Published: October 29, 2009 09:57 pm      

Richard L. Stone Sr.

Services for Richard L. Stone Sr., 80, of Jacksonville will be at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Autry Funeral Home in Jacksonville with the Revs. Joel McMahon and Faulk Landrum officiating. Burial will follow at Meador Cemetery in Jacksonville.

Mr. Stone died Wednesday morning at a Jacksonville healthcare facility.

He was born Jan. 2, 1929 in Jacksonville to William Emerson Stone Sr. and Mary Carter Stone. He practiced law at Stone & Stone Attorneys at Law in Jacksonville for 52 years.

Mr. Stone was a 1946 graduate of Jacksonville High School. He attended Lon Morris College in Jacksonville before going on to the University of Texas at Austin where he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1950.

He went on to graduate at the top of his class from the UT School of Law in January 1952. While in law school, he served as associate editor of the Texas Law Review and was a member of the prestigious Chancellors and the Order of the Coif.

Chancellors is the UT School of Law’s most prestigious honor society, recognizing law students who have achieved the highest grade point averages in their class through their second year of law school.

He was a past member of the Cherokee County Bar Association, the Jacksonville Jaycees and the Jacksonville Lions Club. He also worked with the American Red Cross for many years.

Mr. Stone was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville where he participated in the Wesley Sunday School Class.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of nearly 55 years, Dorothy Stone, who died in March 2004; a brother, Emerson Stone Jr., who died in June 1992; and a granddaughter, Jennifer Stone, who died in September 1996.

Mr. Stone is survived by a daughter, Linda Stone Brown, and husband, Larry, of Jacksonville; sons, Richard L. “Dick” Stone Jr. and wife, Denise, of Jacksonville, David Stone and wife, Dona, of Tyler, and Paul Stone and wife, Abby, of Tyler; a brother, Don Stone and wife, Annette, of Austin; eight grandchildren; three great grandchildren; and numerous nephews and nieces.

Pallbearers will be Jay Stone, Matt Stone, Michael Stone, Jason Foster, Kraig Harvey, Chris Petrole and Joe Taylor. Honorary pallbearers will be Travis Etheridge, Dee Richardson, Chuck Thompson, Max Treadwell and members of the Cherokee County Bar Association.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Autry Funeral Home in Jacksonville.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that memorials be made in his memory to either HOPE Inc., 595 S. Ragsdale, Jacksonville, Texas 75766 or the First United Methodist Church Building Fund, 1031 SE Loop 456, Jacksonville, Texas 75766.