JONESVILLE — Services for Billy Wayne Franklin, 63, of Vicksburg, who died Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, at his home following a lengthy illness, will be today at 1 p.m. at St. Mark Baptist Church in Jonesville with the Rev. Milton Ceaser officiating.

Burial will follow at the New Mount Olive Cemetery in Jonesville under the direction of W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home in Vicksburg.

Mr. Franklin was a civil engineer for the Waterways Experiment Station. He was a deacon and member of the New Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church of Jonesville.

He was the valedictorian for the 1967 graduating class of Block High School in Jonesville and received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Southern University in Baton Rouge. He received his master’s in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Mr. Franklin had worked in the pentagon and also in Iraq as a civil engineer. He was a member of the Black Engineers of America.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Willie Taft and Lucinda Lee Franklin; one brother, Peter West; and one sister, Willie B. Lewis.

Survivors include his wife, Nazarita J. Franklin; two sons, James Wayne Franklin of Lakewood, Calif., and Anthony Jason Franklin of Vicksburg; two daughters, Lucinda Franklin-Jackson of Vicksburg and Bridgete Franklin of Memphis, Tenn.; three brothers, Spencer Franklin of Palmdale, Calif., Willie Franklin of Perris, Calif., and Thomas Franklin of Long Beach, Calif.; three sisters, Bessie West-McClendon of Jonesville, Pearlie B. Moses of Long Beach and Ozel Dean of Monroe, La.; five grandchildren; and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives.