A World War II Merchant Marine born in Randolph County will be laid to rest on Saturday during a ceremony at Wesley Chapel Cemetery east of Armstrong on Saturday. Elvis Nelson Spotts was killed when he was electrocuted during bilge maintenance while aboard the SS Cape Isabel, one of three vessels in a convoy bringing supplies to Betio Island approximately 12 miles off the coast of Tarawa Atoll on February 22, 1944.

The next day, Spotts was buried with military honors in the U.S. Marine Cemetery on Betio Island.

His remains were not identified and he was declared non-recoverable during a remains recovery operations in 1946. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis to officially identity Spotts’ remains in 2018.

On Saturday, he will be laid to rest next to his parents at Wesley Chapel Cemetery near Armstrong. 

A funeral service honoring Spotts will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, at Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home in Fayette, with Rev. Bill O’Neal officiating. Burial with full military honors will be held at Wesley Chapel Cemetery in Armstrong, Missouri. A reception will follow the services at the Jarboe residence, 600 N. Church St., Fayette, Missouri.  

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions are suggested to the Patriot Guard.

Elvis’s first cousins were Glenn Collier of Fayette and Bill Markland of Armstrong. His closest living descendants in the Fayette area are Linda Frink, Susan Donnelly, Mary Jarboe, and John Markland.