FRED CONSTANT JR.

EAST PRAIRIE -- Funeral service for Fred Constant Jr. of East Prairie will be held at 2 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie. The Rev. David Dowdy will officiate, with burial in Dogwood Cemetery.

Constant, 66, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, following an extended illness.

He was born Dec. 30, 1929, at Catron, son of Fred and Jewel Bolton Constant. He and Lavern Brooks were married Sept. 6, 1958, in East Prairie.

Constant was a retired riverboat engineer, and attended St. James General Baptist Church here. He moved to East Prairie in 1972 from Rockford, Ill. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Freddie Constant of East Prairie; two daughters, Anita Hamblen and Carla Jackson of East Prairie; three brothers, Cletus Constant of Kennett, Bill Constant of Dexter, Benny Constant of Rockford; six sisters, Gladys Voy of Bradenton, Fla, Patricia Bellars, Virginia Wagner, Aline Russo, Bonnie Freeburg, all of Rockford, Pauline Choat of Granite City, Ill., and six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by three sisters and a brother.