Name Age Place of Birth > Place of Death Newspaper Publication Date Submitter
REDDICK, James F "Fess"87 Ripley TN>IL CarlyleUB 4 Feb 2004 Linda Holthaus 

James F. ‘Fess’ Reddick, 87, of Carlyle, brother-in-law of Lydia Reddick of Carlyle, died Tuesday, Jan. 27th, 2004.

He was born on Dec. 23rd, 1917, in Ripley, Tenn., the son of William Edward and Lula Loving Reddick. In June of 1952, he married Martha Mattix and they were married for 32 years until her passing in August of 1984.

Mr. Reddick’s father died when he was very young. His mother moved him and his older brother William, Jr., to Centralia. His mother later met and married Jerry Roberts of Carlyle, who raised the two boys as his own.

Jim was a product of the Carlyle school system and became involved in boxing. In 1927 he won the Southern Illinois Golden Gloves Middleweight Championship. He later became the Light Heavyweight Champion in the 1940 Olympics.

He served in the U.S. Army with the rank of First Sergeant during WWII, where he had several exhibition bouts with Heavyweight Champ Joe Louis, who became a dear and personal friend. He was a 32 year member of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, retiring in December of 1982 with the rank of Major as Assistant Chief of Detectives.

After leaving the department, he spent several years as a Special Deputy with the US Service until his health began to fail.

In his later years, Jim developed a special friendship with the late Harriett Coleman. Together they traveled extensively over the globe and were true companions until her passing in 2002.

Funeral services were conducted at the Austin A. Layne Mortuary in St. Louis, Mo.

Interment was in National Cemetery at Jefferson Barracks. 

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