Robert "Bobby" Raymond Lavender, Sr.

DAPHNE, AL Robert “Bobby” Raymond Lavender, Sr., age 64, a native of Ritchton , MS and a longtime resident of Daphne, AL, passed away Thursday, August 4, 2011.   Bobby began his career with the Daphne Police Department in 1974.  After progressing through the ranks, he retired in 2001 as the Assistant Chief of Police.  He was a Daphne Volunteer Firefighter, and helped establish the organization of the Daphne Search and Rescue Team.  He received a Presidential award for saving a man from the frozen waters of Mobile Bay .  Bobby was proud to be known as the “Gator Catcher” for the City of Daphne .  He was a Past Master of Spanish Fort Lodge 916, 32rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, Valley Of Mobile Orient Of Alabama , and a member of the ABBA Temple Shrine.   He will be missed by his wife of 17 years, Joyce Lavender of Daphne, son, Bobby Lavender, Jr. and his wife Tonya of Westerly, RI daughters, Annette Dowdle and her husband John of Covington, LA, Sonya Cuervo and her husband Richard of Dallas, GA, grandchildren, Dakota and Macayla Lavender, Ricky Cuervo, Cole, Katelyn and Jackson Dowdle, father, John Holman of Seminole, AL, many other relatives and friends. The family will receive friends at Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home, Daphne, Saturday, August 6, 2011, from 5:00pm until 8:00pm. Funeral services will be held from the chapel of Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home, Daphne, Sunday, August 7, 2011, at 2:00pm.   Interment will follow in Jubilee Memorial Gardens , Daphne. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorials be made to the Baldwin County Humane Society, P. O. Box 206 , Fairhope , AL 36533 , www.baldwinhumane.org .   ARRANGEMENTS BY WOLFE-BAYVIEW FUNERAL HOMES & CREMATORY, INC. 27409 US HWY 98 DAPHNE, AL. 36526 www.wolfefuneralhome.net