William Shepard “Bill” Averitt

Funeral services for William Shepard “Bill” Averitt, 87, Lawrence, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church in Lawrence. Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Memorial Park Cemetery in Hutchinson. Mr. Averitt died Monday, July 30, 2007, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.He was born Dec. 15, 1919, in Abbottsburg, N.C., the son of Franklin Shepard and Sallie Bell Monroe Davis Averitt. He graduated from Tar Heel, N.C., High School in 1940. He lived in Norfolk, Va., Philadelphia, Trenton, N.J., Oklahoma City and Hutchinson before he moved to Lawrence in 2004.Mr. Averitt served in the U.S. Army Engineers in the 817th Engineers Aviation Battalion during World War II. He worked as a meat grader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 30 years and retired in 1981. He was a member of American Legion Dorsey-Liberty Post 14 in Lawrence and Atlantic Masonic Lodge 2 in Norfolk, Va.He married Corinne Mildred “Millie” Dew on July 27, 1953. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a daughter, Mildred Dawn Averitt Trent and husband Danny C., Lawrence; a son, James Shepard Averitt and wife Karen A. Kuhlmann Averitt, Lee’s Summit, Mo.; a brother; Eugene F., Tar Heel, N.C.; and five grandchildren, Andrew, Aaron, Alex, Aric and Joshua.The family will receive friends from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. before the services Thursday at the church in Lawrence and in the church parlor at First Baptist Church in Hutchinson after the graveside services.The family suggests memorials to the First Baptist Church in Lawrence or Hutchinson, or to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Oncology Department, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence or Elliott Mortuary in Hutchinson.Online condolences may be sent at www.warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Averitt.