Emma Melinda Laird, age 88, formerly of Panama City, died Wednesday, Feb 17, 1999 in a Fort Walton Beach hospital.  She had been a resident of Panama City since 1942, moving from Holmes County.  She was a member of Westview Baptist Church.

	Funeral services were held Saturday, Feb 20 in the Wilson Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev Neal Hughes and Winston Barrett officiating.  Burial followed in the Evergreen Memorial Gardens with Wilson Funeral Home directing.

	She was preceded in death by her husband Hubert F Laird; sons Sherwin Laird and Harold Max Laird, Sr., and a grandson, Harold Max Laird, Jr.

	Survivors include a son Malvin A Laird and his wife Louise of Destin; a daughter, Lorene Dupree of Montgomery, Alabama; 10 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; and sister Beatrice Leavins of Westville.

SOURCE:  Holmes County Advertiser, 24 February 1999, Page 21