Eugene Ainsworth

Funeral services for William Eugene Ainsworth will be held at 11:30 am Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home in Natchitoches, LA with Bro. Ron Perry officiating.  Interment will follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery in Natchitoches.  The family will receive friends from 9:30 am until service time on the 20th at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home. William Eugene Ainsworth, 79 years of age and a resident of Melrose, passed away on February 16, 2018.  He was born on February 26, 1938 in Natchitoches to the late Willie and Rubydean Hicks Ainsworth.  He proudly served in the U.S. Navy for 4 years and worked at NSU in Natchitoches for many years until his retirement in 1993. Eugene was an avid outdoorsman who loved to fish and hunt.  He enjoyed rising early, spending time hunting with his sons.  He also dearly loved to fish, and living on Cane River allowed him to fish often.  Eugene enjoyed traveling, especially going to the mountains in Colorado and also Alaska.  His greatest passion was manicuring his lawn; there was hardly a day that went by that he was not on his lawn mower. He is survived by his wife, Janiece Roge Ainsworth; sons, William “Bill” Rathburn, Jr. and wife Jane, John Rathburn and wife Dianne; sister, Betty Lou Gilcrease; grandchildren, Stacy Brimer, Lindsey French, Thomas Freeman, Flynt Nelson, and Jennifer Waters; ten great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Willie and Rubydean Hicks Ainsworth, sisters, Jo Ann Scales and Janet Ainsworth; and one great grandchild.Those honored to serve as pallbearers include Jeremy Brimer, Thomas Freeman, Mickey Gilcrease, Dano Gilcrease, Ambrose Airhart, Stacy Roge', and David Scales.