Rev. Joe McNair Rice

A funeral service for Rev. Joe McNair Rice will be held at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home on Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 1:30 pm in Natchitoches, LA with Rev. Thomas Rush officiating. Interment will follow at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Gibsland, LA. The family will receive friends from 5:00 until 8:00 pm on Saturday, May 2, 2015 at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home in Natchitoches, LA. Joe Rice, 81 years of age, passed away April 27, 2015. Joe was born March 1, 1934 to the late Harvey Frank Rice and Lillie Milton Rice in Baton Rouge, LA. Before attending seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX, he attended Louisiana College and met the love of his life, Joan Hartwell Key where he wooed her with his charm and perpetual offerings of strawberries. Joe was a bi-vocational pastor for nearly 50 years in the state of Louisiana. When he was not shepherding his flock he was a schoolteacher who engaged his students in the area of history and social studies. Rev. Rice had a passion for genealogy, gardening, and was also a self-taught painter. His true inspiration though, was the Bible. He believed the Lord had given him a passion for it as a young child because he cried out in prayer for understanding and God was faithful to answer that prayer throughout his life. Those left to cherish his memory include his daughter, Lynda Rice Roberts and husband Jim of Natchitoches, LA; son Hartwell Lee Rice and wife Stephanie of Mali, West Africa; grandchildren, Marlee Roberts and Scott Roberts of Natchitoches, LA, and Seraiah Rice of Mali, West Africa; and brother Frank Rice of Charlottesville, VA. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan Hartwell Key Rice, and his parents Harvey Frank Rice and Lillie Milton Rice. Those honored to serve as pallbearers include Kris Presson, Scott Roberts, Jim Roberts, Lee Dickson, Hartwell Rice and Jerry Ferguson. Honorary pallbearers include members of his Sunday school class at First Baptist Natchitoches, LA. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to either the International Mission Board, www.imb.org, or Gideons International, www.gideons.org in his memory.