Mr. Cecil Melton Bittle, Sr., age 98, of Hope, Arkansas, passed away Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at Medical Park Hospital, Hope, Arkansas. Mr. Bittle was born April 23, 1912, in Cleburne County, Arkansas to Thomas Melton and Sylvia Ezella McFarland Cothren Bittle. He received his Masters Degree in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mr. Bittle retired after 31 years of service as Director of the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station of Hope, Arkansas and was a member of Calvary Baptist Church of Hope. He is preceded in death by his wife Grace Verser Bittle; five brothers: Joseph Marion, Levi Berlison, Odis Earon, Easel William, Orvil Thornton Bittle; and two sisters: Elizabeth Jane Bittle Schlem and Laura Ezella Bittle Pettit. HIS SURVIVORS INCLUDE: ONE DAUGHTER: Betty Jean Wright, Hope, Arkansas. ONE SON: Cecil M. Dick Bittle, Jr., Hope, Arkansas. FIVE GRANDSONS: Dr. Mark Wayne Wright, Texarkana, Texas. Brad Wendell Wright, Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Doyle Wade Wright, West Fork, Arkansas. Scott Wilson Bittle, Hope, Arkansas; Brett Wesley Bittle, Moore, Oklahoma. Special Friends: Mary Arrington (and her late husband, Gene Arrington,) Nashville, Arkansas, and Eight Great-grandchildren; numerous Great-Great Grandchildren; and other family and friends. FUNERAL SERVICES will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 8, 2010, at Brazzel/Oakcrest Funeral Home Chapel, Hope, Arkansas, with Rev. Hal Dixon officiating. Burial to follow in Memory Gardens Cemetery, Hope, Arkansas. Arrangements by Brazzel/Oakcrest The Funeral Home, Hope, Arkansas. FAMILY WILL RECEIVE FRIENDS: Friday, May 7, 2010, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Brazzel/Oakcrest The Funeral Home, Hope, Arkansas.