July 23, 1925 – May 16, 2018

 

JACKSON — Funeral mass for John Alexander Bellan Jr., 92, who died Wednesday, May 16, 2018, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Richard Catholic Church.

Burial will follow at Lakewood Memorial Park under the direction of Wright Ferguson Funeral Home in Jackson.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until service time Saturday at the church.

Mr. Bellan was born July 23, 1925, in Vicksburg, the son of John Alexander Bellan and Mary Junkin Bellan.

He was a 1942 graduate of St. Aloysius High School in Vicksburg and attended the University of Mississippi before receiving a senatorial appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the class of 1947, with a bachelor of science degree and received a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He subsequently attended the U.S. Navy Supply and Finance School in Bayonne, N.J. Upon completion of that school, he served on active duty at the Naval Air Facility in Attu, Alaska, and at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. He resigned his Navy commission and accepted a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve and entered law school at the University of Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Mississippi Law School in 1952, and was awarded a juris doctor degree.

Upon graduation from law school, he was recalled to active duty with the Navy during the Korean Conflict and served two years aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) deployed off Korea and other areas. Upon release from active duty in 1954, he practiced law in Jackson for more than 50 years, practicing primarily in the area of oil and gas law and real estate. He held offices in the Hinds County Bar Association, the Mississippi Oil and Gas Lawyers Association and was co-editor of the Mississippi Lawyer for a number of years. He was chairman of the 21st Mississippi Law Institute. He was president of the Mississippi Estate Planning Council in 1967. During that period, he remained active in the U.S. Naval Reserve and retired with the rank of captain with more than 35 years of creditable service. He retired from the practice of law in 1992.

He was a member of St. Richard Catholic Church for more than 50 years and served on the St. Richard School Board and the board of St. Joseph High School. He was active in the Catholic Foundation of Mississippi and served on the executive committee for more than eight years. He served several terms on the board of directors of the Mississippi Blood Services. He was currently a member of the Capital Club and River Hills Club and a former member of the University Club.

Mr. Bellan was preceded in death by one sister, Rose Bellan Ferguson, and one brother, William Junkin Bellan.

Survivors include his wife, Joan Boone Bellan; three children, Dr. John A. Bellan III and wife, Noella, Susan Boone Bellan O’Connor and husband, Charles, and Catherine Junkin Bellan Bitterman and husband, James; five grandchildren, Jack Ratigan Bitterman, Henry Junkin Bitterman, Joanna Clare Bellan, Alexander Noel Bellan and Mary Hazel Bellan; and two sisters, Mary Bellan Eidt and husband, Edward, and Angela Bellan.