Funeral services for Mr. William Lionel (Bill) Tatum, age 90, of Carthage, TX, will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 29, 2012, at Jimerson-Lipsey Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. William Everett and Rev. Steve Jackson officiating. Interment will follow in Restland Memorial Park near Carthage. The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday at the funeral home. Mr. Tatum passed away on Monday morning, March 26, 2012.

William Lionel (Bill) Tatum was born May 9, 1921, in Lamkin, TX. He was the eleventh of twelve children born to John and Bobbi Rhoads Tatum. He graduated from Gustine High School before attending Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) on an athletic scholarship. After college graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served as a first lieutenant in World War II. He taught one year at Gatesville High School before moving to Carthage to become the head basketball coach and social studies teacher, positions he held for over twenty-five years before moving into school administration. He earned a Master's degree from the University of Houston with additional work at Stephen F. Austin University. He is in the Texas State University Hall of Honor and the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Fame. He moved to Carthage in 1947, from Gatesville and was a longtime member of Central Baptist Church.

Mr. Tatum is survived by his wife, Mary Lou Green Tatum of Longview; one son, John Tatum and wife Mary Ann of White Oak; one daughter, Susan Edge of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; three grandchildren, Emily West and husband Mike of Lubbock, Brian Tatum and wife Jana of Newton, and Amanda Edge of New York City; four great-grandchildren, Mackenzie and Micheal West and Marissa and Rebecca Tatum; and one sister, Belva Quello of Las Vegas.

Serving as pallbearers are John Crisp, Dennis Smith, James Youngblood, Bill O'Neal, Raymond Schieffer, Jerry Bazer, and Jerome Davis. Honorary Pallbearer is Mac Wheat.

A guestbook may be signed online at www.jimerson-lipsey.com.