REIDSVILLE — Jesse Daniel Chilton, 92, of Reidsville died Friday, February 12, 2010 at Hospice Home.

Funeral Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, February 15, 2010 at Covington Wesleyan Church with Rev. Ralph Clayton and Rev. Sandy Brown officiating. Interment will follow in Evergreen Memory Gardens.

Born on November 8, 1917 in Rockingham County, Jesse was the 10th of the 23 children of Joseph P. Chilton (1866 - 1947). Jesse was an enthusiastic gardener, skilled mechanic, proficient hunter, and back-yard inventor. He retired from American Tobacco Company after nearly 40 years of service as a mechanic. He was a member of the Monroeton Volunteer Fire Department. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and was a member of the Three Bridges and Dogwood hunt clubs. A devout Christian man, Jesse had read the Bible from cover to cover several times. He was one of the nine men who founded Community Baptist Church where he served as a Sunday school teacher and deacon for many years. He served on the board of Elders at Evangelical Methodist Church. For the past several years, he had been attending Covington Wesleyan Church.

Jesse was preceded in death by his loving wife of 47 years Hazel H. Chilton, daughter and son-in-law, Nancy and Charlie Heckert; mother, Mary Elizabeth Carter Chilton Ward and the following siblings, Carrie Powell, Ella Saunders, Bryant Chilton, Edd Chilton, Lindsey Chilton, Cora McKinney, Thelma Chilton, Arthur Chilton, Ethel Strader, Lucille Wheeler, Calvin Chilton, Haywood Chilton, Doris Billingsley, Elaine Reynolds, Alvinia Henderson, and Wayne Chilton.

He is survived by daughters Geneva Massey, Linda Chilton, Gayle Apple and husband, Ike and Cindy Bradshaw and husband, Steve all of Reidsville; grandchildren Tommy Massey, Matthew Heckert, Karis H. Manning, Justin Heckert, Stephanie Heckert, Dana Green, Chrysta Carroll, Ross Apple, Kendra Reid, Cody Bradshaw and Chanda Bradshaw; great-grandchildren Grant, Gage and Gracen Massey, Kayleigh and Joshua Manning, Jessica, Ryan and Cole Martin, Tyler and Allana Carroll, Dylan and Darla Apple, Jeremiah and Simon Reid; siblings and in-laws Vivian Denny, Coleen and Claude Shropshire, Cleo and Parks Lawson, Garland and Annie Mae Chilton, Josephine and Charles Hopkins, Mary and Gene Smith.

Published in News Record on February 14, 2010