Obituary of JOHN MOORE KITTRELL, LaSalle Parish, Louisiana

Copied and submitted by: Doug McBroom, 902 Kilgore Court, Allen, TX 75013
(No Relation.)

From The Jena Times-Olla Tullos Signal; Jena, LaSalle Parish, La.  
Microfilm at the LaSalle Parish Library located in Jena, LaSalle Parish, La.

Many thanks to The Times-Signal and to the LaSalle Parish Library for 
allowing the following to be added to the Archives.





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Date:  January 2, 1958, Thursday

Headline:  Dr. J. M. Kittrell, 61, Dies Suddenly of Heart Attack, Rites Held 
in Laurel, Miss.

Dr. John Moore Kittrell of Jena and Goodpine, 61, chief of staff of Jena 
Hospital and coroner of LaSalle Parish, who died suddenly of a heart attack 
Thursday night, Dec. 26, while on a Christmas visit in the home of his 
parents, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Kittrell, in Laurel, Miss., was buried Sunday 
afternoon.

Final rites were held at the chapel of Memory Chapel Funeral Home of Laurel, 
at 3:30 p.m., with the Rev. W. O. Lynch, pastor of Noley Memorial Methodist 
Church of Jena, where Dr. Kittrell had his membership. He was assisted by the 
Rev. O. G. Cannon of Jena and the Rev. J. D. Slay of Laurel, Miss.  Interment 
was in the Hickory Grove Cemetery of Laurel.

Serving as pallbearers were Bill Brasher, Barney Basham, Ralph Stephenson, 
Jewel Smith, L. B. Portier, Jr., Don Taylor, Jack Honeycutt, and Glen 
Drewett, all of Jena.

Dr. Kittrell, a former Jones County (Miss.) health officer, came to LaSalle 
Parish in 1927 as a parish health officer from Birmingham, Ala., where he had 
been assistant surgeon at the Tennessee Iron and Coal Industrial Hospital.  
The following year, Dr. Kittrell was named medical director for the Buchanan 
Interests  at Goodpine.

Dr. Kittrell acquired his academic education at the Laurel (Miss.) High 
School, Washington and Lee University, the University of Mississippi, and 
Tulane University Medical School.  He was a member of the American Medical 
Association, the Louisiana State Medical Society and the Rapides Parish 
Medical Society, and was an associate staff member of the St. Francis Cabrini 
Hospital and the Baptist Hospital of Alexandria.

A veteran of World War I, Dr. Kittrell was a member of the staff at Jena 
Hospital since it was first opened in 1948 and held the post of chief of 
surgeons for a number of years.  In 1956, Dr. Kittrell was named chief of 
staff at the hospital, the same year he was elected vice president of the 
Rapides Parish Medical Society.

Believed to be LaSalle Parish's oldest active physician and surgeon in 
private practice, from point of service, Dr. Kittrell was known among his 
colleagues as the "father of modern surgery" in LaSalle Parish.

Several months ago, following the resignation of Dr. F. A. Thomas of Urania, 
Dr. Kittrell was persuaded to accept the office of LaSalle Parish Coroner and 
was appointed by Gov. Earl Long to fill the unexpired term.

Surviving Dr. Kittrell are his wife, Mrs. Johnnie Kittrell; four daughters, 
Mrs. Otis Winard of Bay St. Louis, Miss., Lt. Grace Kittrell of Scott Air 
Force Base, Bellville, Ill,; Anne Moore Kittrell and Madge Morrow Kittrell of 
Jena; two brothers, W. H. of Montgomery, Ala., and R. H. of Hilo, Hawaii; one 
sister, Mrs. Grace Irby of Laurel; his parents, Dr. and Mrs. J. R. Kittrell 
of Laurel, and two grandchildren.