Richard Cruel

Published 12:00 am Friday, May 8, 2009

FAYETTE — Services for Richard Melvin “Buddy” Cruel, 68, of Natchez, formerly of Fayette, who died Saturday, May 2, 2009, at Natchez Community Hospital, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Mariah Baptist Church with the Rev. Stanford Cruel officiating.
Burial will follow at the church cemetery under the direction of Spencer Funeral Home in Fayette.
Visitation will be from 1 to 5:30 p.m. and a family hour from 6 to 7 p.m., both at the funeral home.
Mr. Cruel was born July 19, 1940, the second of seven children born to Melvin “Daddy Mel” Cruel and Marie Starks Cruel. He confessed Christ at Poplar Hill African Methodist Church at an early age. After his mission was complete, he moved his membership to St. Mariah Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of the Rev. Standard E. Cruel, where he served as a deacon.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and one brother, Norman “Bro” Cruel.
Survivors include his loving wife, Shirley Anderson Cruel; 14 children, Mary S. Cruel, Marvin S. Cruel, Richard Cruel and wife, Martha, Terrance A. Cruel, Thelma Cruel Barnes and husband, Jimmy, Velma Cruel Oliver and Maria Knight and husband, Charles, all of Fayette, Ronnie S. Cruel and wife, Wanda, and Standord E. Cruel and wife, Agnes, all of Port Gibson, Patricia Cruel McNamee and husband, Leonard, of Burtonsville, Md., Shawanda Cruel of Memphis, Tenn.; Lachelle Knight and husband, Curtis, Marquis Thompson and Katrina Thompson, all of Natchez; five siblings, Helen Jackson, Joseph Cruel Sr., Roosevelt Cruel and wife, Shirley, and Susie Cruel, all of Fayette, and Rosie Carpenter and husband, A.J., of Lorman; six stepchildren, Carl Anderson of Fayette, Carolyn Anderson of Hawthorne, Calif., Donna Kelly and husband, Robert, of Atlanta, Alice Jackson and husband, Gregory, Sandra Sampson and husband, Albert, of Natchez and Vincent Anderson and wife, Nigel, of Pascagoula; 21 grandchildren; 16 step-grandchildren; and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and close friends.
Pallbearers will be Carl Anderson, Benjamin Durrell, Vincent Anderson, Robert Kelly, Dennis Daniels and Albert Sampson.