Graveside services for Elizabeth Carolyne Hitt Priester were held on Jan. 6 at the Natchez City Cemetery with the Rev. Dan Wynn officiating under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Mrs. Priester was born April 12, 1919, in Clinton, the daughter of the late Dr. Joel Reuben Hitt and his wife, Elizabeth Margania Robertson Hitt.

She was preceded in death by her husband, W.R. “Billy” Priester Jr.; her son, Robert I. “Bob” Priester II; her brothers, James Hitt, Dick Hitt, Bruce Hitt and Joel Hitt Jr.; and her sister, Flora Hitt Taylor.

Survivors include a daughter, Janice Priester Byrne and her husband, Paul, of Natchez; a son, Dr. William R. “Bill” Priester III and his wife, Jean, of Memphis, Tenn.; four grandchildren, Shan Priester Fite and her husband, Matt, of Memphis, Dr. William Bradford Priester and his wife, Joanna, of Jackson, Tenn., Robert Priester Byrne and his wife Jessica, of Natchez, and Susannah Byrne Heatherly and her husband, Wade, of Natchez; eight great-grandchildren, John Swink Fite, Halle Hicks Priester, Elizabeth Marie Fite, William Charles Fite, Paul Wesley Heatherly, Elizabeth Carolyne Heatherly, Joseph Byrne Heatherly and Elizabeth Layne Byrne; one sister, Lucile Hitt Hollingsworth of Clinton; long time friend, Janie Lee Johnson; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Natchez Adams County Humane Society Building Fund, c/o AmSouth Bank, 55 Seargent Prentiss Drive, or Together Enhancing Autism Awareness in Mississippi, P.O. Box 213, Newton, MS 39345.