PHILLIP BARKETT SR.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Phillip John Barkett Sr., 81, of Sikeston died Thursday, July 13, 2000, at Clearview Nursing Center in Sikeston.

He was born June 22, 1919, in Cayce, Ky., the son of James and Phoebe Lewis Barkett. He married Marianne Rose Gannon on Jan. 31, 1947, in Cairo, Ill. She died Dec. 4, 1975.

He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1941 with an accounting degree. He served as a navigator on a B-17 in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII. He was shot down on his second mission in May 1944 and became a prisoner of war. He was liberated in April 1945.

He moved to Sikeston in 1958 and opened Barkett's Big Star, operating it until 1975. He also operated his own real estate firm for several years.

He was on the board of Bootheel Counseling, was a past volunteer at the Missouri Delta Medical Center and was a former member and past president of the Sikeston Board of Education.

He was a member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

He is survived by two sons, Phillip J. Barkett Jr. and Dr. Kenneth J. Barkett, both of Sikeston; a daughter, Mary Lewis Bilger of Germantown, Tenn.; two sisters, Lorraine Maddox and Frances Elias, both of Cairo; and five grandchildren.

He also was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.

Visitation will be from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.

A funeral Mass will be said at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the Rev. Robert Schumacher officiating.

Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery in Charleston, Mo.