Flournoy Branham (“F.B.”) Ward, Jr.

Funeral services for Flournoy Branham (“F.B.”) Ward, Jr., 89, of Natchitoches will be conducted at 3 p.m., Tuesday, April 26, at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home in Natchitoches. Rev. Linda Clark will officiate. Interment will immediately follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 1-3 p.m. F.B. passed away on April 23, 2016, at the NW Louisiana War Veterans Home in Bossier City, Louisiana. He was born August 28, 1926, in Hope, Arkansas, and was a graduate of Hope High School and Henderson State Teachers College, receiving a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1950. He received a Masters degree in Music Education from Northwestern State University, as well as plus thirty. He served in World War II in the United States Marine Corps from 1945-1946. He married Jo Ann Card in 1949, and they enjoyed 62 years of marriage until her death in 2011. F.B. was a great educator, serving as band director at many schools during his life, including Prescott, Texarkana, and De Queen, Arkansas; Hooks and Atlanta, Texas; and Jonesboro-Hodge and Natchitoches, Louisiana. His bands consistently won first divisions in marching and playing contests. His students are what made him great, and he instilled in them the importance of striving for excellence and discipline in their everyday life. He was Principal at several Natchitoches Parish schools including Campti, Goldonna, and Gorum. F.B. was especially gifted at saxophone and playing piano by ear. He was not only a great musician, but a great arranger, and regularly entertained friends and family with jazz piano favorites. In addition to music, F.B. enjoyed quail hunting, fishing, fly tying, camping, and playing bridge. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jo Ann Card Ward; his father and mother, Flournoy B. Ward, Sr. and Nell Pye Ward; and three siblings, Zula Mae Rike, Dorothy Faye Anderson, and Janice Berniece Andrews. Survivors include four children, Mark Branham Ward and wife Melissa, Barbara Ann McCoy and husband David, Jana Lynn Mayeaux and husband Clay, and Joel David Ward and fiancée Stacie Cameron; eight grandchildren, Leslie Campbell, Kelly Mondello, Melanie Algermissen, Ashley Williams, Lacy Christophe, Kelsey Ward, Katie Vance, and Dave McCoy, and 11 great-grandchildren. Pallbearers will be Scott Barnard, Mike Barnard, Doug Barnard, Jonathan Andrews, Josh Campbell, Clay Mayeaux, Mark Ward, and Joel Ward. Honorary pallbearers will be David McCoy. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made to the Northwestern State University Foundation for a jazz music scholarship in memory of F.B. Ward, 535 University Parkway, Natchitoches, LA 71457. The family would like to express their sincere appreciation to Linda Thompson, Margaret Williams, and Dr. Fleniken and the staff of the NW Louisiana War Veterans Home.