J. MARK NUNNELEE

J. Mark Nunnelee, 57, died July 30, 2001, at his home in Smithville, Mo.

He was born Sept. 17, 1943, in Cape Girardeau, son of Joe Robert and Janice Lessley Hartle Nunnelee. He lived in Charleston, Mo., until 1956 when he moved with his mother and brother to Cape Girardeau.

Mark graduated from Central High School, Southeast Missouri State University, and enrolled for graduate study in philosophy at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

His study was interrupted by the Vietnam War. Later he studied medieval history at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

His study and learning continued all his life. Libraries and book stores were his favorite haunts and reading his favorite activity. Recently, as he was moving his personal library to Cape Girardeau and handling the books he had been collecting all his life, he stopped and said, "I'm reliving my whole life."

He and Sharon Ray Slater were married and had two sons: Mark Britton Nunnelee and Shelby Slater Nunnelee; and a grandchild, Marissa Anne Nunnelee. They and his mother survive.

He was preceded by his younger brother, Gregory Hartle Nunnelee.

Mark served in the U.S. Army four years and was a Vietnam veteran. Later he worked for Farmland Industries of Kansas City and then as a consultant for Aubrey Daniels and Associates of Atlanta, Ga. For the past two years he had been a financial manager.

A private family graveside service is planned at Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 94, Toms River, N.J., 08754-9900, or Boys and Girls Town of Missouri, P.O. Box 189, St. James, Mo., 65559-9989.

Local arrangements by Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel.