Biography: James Horner Rice, Jr. was born in Little Rock, AR on April 5, 1917, the first child of Marguerite English Rice and James Horner Rice. Mr. Rice attended Centennial Elementary School, West Side Junior High School, Little Rock High School (now Central), Little Rock Jr. College and Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, graduating in 1937 with a B.S. degree in Commerce. In 1937 he began his banking career at W.B. Worthen Bank and Trust Company in Little Rock where he was employed until 1949, with a leave of absence for military service from 1941-1945. On April 23, 1942, he married Kathryn Louise Donham of Little Rock. He then graduated from the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School and was assigned as a finance officer with the 80th Infantry Division at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Captain Rice remained with the 80th Division throughout World War II. He was awarded four campaign ribbons for campaigns in Normandy, Central France, The Ardennes and Central Germany. He was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroic action in France on August 31, 1945. Captain Rice continued his military service in the Army Reserve until 1977, retiring with the rank of Colonel. After being released from active duty he returned to Little Rock to continue his career in banking. He attended Arkansas Law School, graduating in 1949 with a Juris Doctor degree. He also graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in 1965 with an advanced degree in Banking and Trusts. In 1999, he was recognized as a 50-year member of the Arkansas Bar Association. Mr. Rice was employed at the First National Bank and its successor, First Commercial Bank (now Regions), until his retirement in 1984 as Senior Vice-President and Trust Counsel. In 1958 he founded and served as the first president of the Central Arkansas Estate Council, an association of professional estate planners composed of certified public accountants, attorneys, certified life underwriters, and trust officers. He was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, where he served in many leadership capacities, including Church School Superintendent, Chairman on Education, Chairman of the Administrative Board, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Charge Lay Leader. In 1966, he and the late Harry D. Allen established the Perpetual Endowment Fund of the church. Mr. Rice was selected as a delegate to the World Methodist Family Life Study Group held in Birmingham, England, and to the World Family Life Conference in London. After these conferences, the Rices visited five more European and Asian capitals before returning home. Mr. Rice was a member of Trinity Lodge in Little Rock, serving as Chairman of the Board of Finance of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Scottish Rite Bodies. He was a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. Mr. Rice was a member of the Country Club of Little Rock and an avid golfer for over fifty years. He was a longtime member of Lakeside Country Club and Belcher Lake Farms, a hunting and fishing club near Stuttgart, where he also served as president. During retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Rice enjoyed the Arkansas Arts Center's traveling seminars to China, Spain and England and a study seminar to Israel. Jimmy was a devoted and attentive husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is survived by his wife of sixty-six years, Kathryn Donham Rice; two sons, John Donham (Mike) Rice, and his wife Janice, of Albuquerque, New Mexico; James Robertson Rice and wife Tracy, of Little Rock and two daughters, Kathryn Rice Knowles and husband Robert, of Wintergreen, Virginia; and Louise Rice Fox, and husband Joe, of Little Rock. In addition, he is survived by his brother, Peyton E. Rice, of Little Rock; nine grandchildren: Tamera Rice Daniel of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kimberly Carswell, Fort Worth, Texas; English Knowles Olney of Healdsburg, California; James Knowles of Durham, North Carolina; Robert Knowles of Princeton, New Jersey; Jim Moore of Fayettville, Arkansas; Katie Moore of Little Rock; Jessica Rice and John Rice of Little Rock; nine great-grandchildren; and cousins, Austin McCaskill of Little Rock, and Mary Jane Mehaffey of Covington, Louisiana. Visitation will be held at Ruebel Funeral Home, 6313 West Markham, Little Rock on Monday, February 4, 2008, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. A private family burial will be held at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, followed by a Celebration of Life Service at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 5, 2008, at First United Methodist Church, 723 Center Street in Little Rock. The family will receive friends at the Fox home at 89 Kingspark Road, Little Rock and at Woodland Heights Retirement Community, 8700 Riley Drive, Little Rock. Memorials may be made to the James H. and Kathryn Donham Rice Endowed Scholarship Fund at Hendrix College or to the Perpetual Endowment Fund of the First United Methodist Church, in Little Rock. The family would like to express gratitude and thanks to the medical staff at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Aging at UAMS, the caring and supportive staff of Baptist Health Hospice and to friends and staff at Woodland Heights Retirement Community. Funeral arrangements are by Ruebel Funeral Home of Little Rock, www.ruebelfunerahome.com.