Lynell "Memaw" Davis, 80, of Paducah, formerly of Cairo, IL, died Sunday, January 10, 2010, 9:50 a.m. at Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah.

Lynell was a member of Harrison Street Missionary Baptist Church, where she served on the Mother's Board and Culinary Arts Committee. She was a former member of Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Cairo, IL , where she also a member of the Culinary Arts Committee, the Choir, the Mother's Board, the Missionary Society, and the Restoration Committee. She worked as an Insurance Agent with Supreme Life Insurance Company and also with the extension office at Southern Illinois University as a homemaker and retired from the Executive Inn as Foods Supervisor. Lynell was the owner and operator of J & L Soul Food Restaurant in Cairo, IL and attended the Cairo public school system.

Lynell was preceded in death by her husband, Jessie Davis; her parents, Leonard Pierce, and Frances Howard Brooks; and a sister.

She is survived by one daughter, Reverend Rita Story, Paducah; four sisters, Lurlene Edmonds, Maxine Hood, Irene Hall, and Olive Wright, all of Cairo, IL; 3 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Services are scheduled for 12 Noon, Saturday, January 16, 2010, at Harrison Street Missionary Baptist Church, 1126 Harrison Street, Paducah, KY, with Reverend James L. Hudson and Reverend W. G. Harvey, Sr. officiating. Burial will follow at Green Lawn Cemetery in Villa Ridge, IL.

The family will receive visitors from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 15, 2010 at Harrison Street Missionary Baptist Church and again on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until the funeral hour.