Virgil Oliver Rice, Jr.

Merritt Island, Florida – Chief M/Sgt (Retired) Virgil Oliver Rice, Jr., of 779 E. Merritt Island Causeway, died Sunday at Wayne Memorial Hospital after a lengthy battle with cancer.

A native of Guilford County, he was the son of the late Virgil Oliver Rice, Sr. and Ollie Mae Sheffield Rice. He served in the United States Air Force.

Funeral Services will be held Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. from the Seymour Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Otis Ham officiating. Entombment will follow at Wayne Memorial Park with full military honors.

He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-laws; Mary and Robert Porter and Melissa and Joseph Thacker, all of Goldsboro; brother and sister-in-law Wallace and Lois Rice of Oceanside, California; grandchildren; Jennifer Kent, Samuel Thacker and great-granddaughter, Rebekah Kent; nephew, Wallace Rice, Jr. and wife Linda of Riverside, Calif. and the mother of his children, Ernestine Rice of Goldsboro.

The family will receive friends 7-9 P.M. Monday night at the home of Melissa and Joseph Thacker, 117 Hines Dr. Lot 33, Goldsboro and Tuesday morning from 10:00-11:00 a.m. at the funeral home