James T. Cockrell

James T. Cockrell of Long Beach, Mississippi, passed away peacefully at the age of 94 on March 10, 2026, surrounded by his loving family. Born in Brooksville, Mississippi, he moved as a young boy to Macon, where his parents operated a dairy farm. At seventeen, he relocated to New Orleans and worked at Alexander Shipyard, later enlisting in the Army in July 1950. He completed basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, attended welding school at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and served a year in Korea. Following his military service, which included duty as an MP on troop trains at Camp Stewart, Georgia, he returned to civilian life in the Gulf Coast area.

He worked for twelve years as a nursing assistant at the Gulfport VA and attended GI school at Carr Secretarial School. It was there, in January 1954, that he met his future wife, Mary A. Cockrell, who was working at Stone’s Ice Cream Parlor. They married on January 12, 1955. Mary, a divorced mother of four young boys, and James built a loving blended family, later welcoming three more children together. He went on to work for twenty-five years at the Air National Guard Training Site, retiring at age sixty. In retirement, he and Mary enjoyed traveling, camping, and taking cruises with dear friends Duane and Connie Blackwell, as well as volunteering at Gulfport Memorial Hospital. A faithful member of Antioch Baptist Church in Long Beach, James remained in the family home after Mary’s passing, lovingly cared for by his daughter Patricia and her husband Jim.

He was preceded in death by his wife of sixty-one years, Mary A. Cockrell; his parents, Robert O. and Nancy L. Cockrell; granddaughters Jennifer J. Bush and Dede Sykes; great-granddaughter Eve Gretchen Bush; daughters-in-law Susan S. Cockrell and Joan V. Cockrell; four brothers, Earl, Fred, Bob, and his twin John Thomas Cockrell; and five sisters, Grace Cook, Maxine Bowen, Margaret Hill, Francis Misso, and Arlie Zelenka.

James is survived by his children, David L. (Laura) Sykes, Benton L. (Judy) Sykes, William H. (Charlotte) Sykes, Gerald R. (Darlene) Sykes, Patricia C. (Jim) Skinner, John T. (Jane) Cockrell, and Farrell Cockrell, along with thirty-two grandchildren, seventy-two great-grandchildren, and twenty-three great-great-grandchildren.