July 26, 1940 – March 18, 2019

VIDALIA — Services for Alton Blackman Pecanty, 78, of Vidalia, who died Monday, March 18, 2019, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Vidalia First Baptist Church with the Rev. Wes Faulk officiating.
Burial will follow at Acme Baptist Church Cemetery under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home.
Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until service time Saturday at the church.
Mr. Pecanty was born July 26, 1940, in Acme, the son of John Tillman Pecanty and Lena Ruth Pecanty.
He was a member of Vidalia First Baptist Church. He also served in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, Texas.
Pecanty opned the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in Natchez in 1968. He remained affiliated with the company for 36 years. He was known far and wide as “The Chicken Man.” He worked with the Vidalia softball league for years and was an avid hunter and fisherman.
Pecanty was the first person to receive the Lifetime Out of State Sportsman Mississippi License in 1993.
Pecanty was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Huey Pecanty and Mitchell Pecanty; and three sisters, Dorothy Ashley, Oma Ruth Sullivan and Peggy Rogers.
Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Betty Stokes Pecanty; one daughter, Andrea Irvin and husband, Joe; one son, Darin Pecanty and wife, Amy; five grandchildren, Dori Jett and husband, Matt, Piper Tillman and husband, Justin, Annika Pecanty, Ashlynn Pecanty and Ainsley Pecanty; one great-grandson, Rowan Alton Tillman; one sister, Shirley Cliburn and husband, Billy; and a number of nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers will be Darin Pecanty, Ken Pecanty, Brent White, Tim Ashley and Dwight Baker.
Honorary pallbearers will be Yates McGraw, Billy Cliburn, Sonny Gwin, Raymond Rabb, Pete Williams, Leon McCall, Seon McCall, Bobby Hamilton, Virgil Hoggatt, Morgan Ryan and all the members of Beck’s Bay Hunt Club.
Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77291.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at youngsfh.com.