Virgil Knuckles

SIKESTON -- Virgil Eugene Knuckles, 85, died Feb. 14, 2012, at his home in rural Sikeston.

Born April 27, 1926, in Morehouse, he was the son of the late Avery Ernest and Betty Brock Knuckles. He worked for Shell Oil Company in Illinois and later moved to Missouri when he bought a farm south of Morehouse to become a farmer -- which he was for more than 45 years before retiring.

On March 19, 1949, he married Clara Tarpley who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: two sons and daughters-in-law, Greg and Lemma Knuckles of Tyler, Texas, and Vernon and Pam Knuckles of Sikeston; two daughters and sons-in-law, Barb and Ron Towe and Sharon and Mike Hodgkiss of Sikeston; two brothers, Eugene Knuckles of Mt. Enterprise, Texas, and Clifford Downs of DeSoto; six grandchildren, Chris Hodgkiss, Shawn Towe, Jeromy Towe and Joseph Knuckles of Sikeston, Brian Towe of Patterson and Angela Knuckles McCabe of Belmont, N.C.; and 10 great-grandchildren.

One son, Ernest Lee Knuckles, one daughter, Debbie Knuckles, and five brothers and one sister preceded him in death.

Visitation is scheduled from 5-8 p.m. today at the Ponder Funeral Home where services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday. His grandsons, Brian Towe and Chris Hodgkiss, will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Sikeston.

Pallbearers will be his grandchildren: Chris Hodgkiss, Brian Towe, Angela Knuckles McCabe, Shawn Towe, Jeromy Towe and Joseph Knuckles.

Online condolences may be sent at www.ponderfuneralhome.com.

Paid obituary