OBITUARIES: In Memory

♦ Read James Cook’s obituary on page

BROOK, Dorothy Jane Speir

Dorothy Jane Speir Brook, 89, went to be with her Lord and Savior on April 6, 2021, following a short illness.

Jane was born at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta on February 7, 1932 to William Anderson and Stella Louise Freeman Speir. She met the love of her life and future husband, Arthur Dean Brook, in the 4th grade at Sylvan Hills Elementary School. She graduated from Brown High, attended Georgia State University, and trained as a medical technologist at Crawford Long Hospital. At the conclusion of her clinical training, she was certi¿HG E\ WKH $PHULFDQ 6RFLHW\ for Clinical Pathology. In a service at Sylvan Hills Baptist Church, Atlanta on December 20, 1952, she married Arthur, home from Fort Jackson on a three-day-pass. The young couple moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where Jane worked for the South Carolina Department of Public Health and Arthur served as a Division Assistant Instructor training young soldiers during the Korean War.

After Arthur’s two-year sojourn with the Army, the couple returned to Atlanta where Arthur completed his education and they began their family. In a span of eight years, Jane delivered Steve, Debra, Dean, and Laurie - all at Crawford Long Hospital. Not wishing to get in a rut, she delivered their ¿IWK FKLOG )UHHPDQ DW WKH Medical Center of Central Georgia after the family moved to Macon.

Education was always of primary importance to Jane. She supported Arthur when he returned to Georgia Tech and enrolled him in the Master of Business program at Georgia State University. When Steve left home for college, Jane decided that the time had come for her to complete her own education and she enrolled in a program for non-traditional students at Wesleyan College. At the time, she had four children at home, the youngest of whom was three. Nonetheless, she excelled and received a Bachelor of Science in biology with honors a few days before Steve received his undergraduate degree. Bitten with the education bug, she then obtained a Master of Education from Mercer University. To complete her education, she and Arthur traveled extensively in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Galapagos, Mexico, and Peru.

A member of Ingleside Baptist Church since 1964, for years Jane taught the twoyear-old Sunday school class DQG FR FKDLUHG WKH ÀRZHU committee with her beloved friends and fellow Wesleyan alumna, Barbara Magnan and Emily Whitaker Vickers respectively. Also for years, she planned the trips for the Inglelites, the senior group at Ingleside. Jane was active throughout her life in garden clubs in North Decatur and Macon, the Macon Newcomers Club, the Macon Junior Women’s Club, the Paran Cemetery Committee, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She volunteered as a Pink Lady at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. In 1973, the Federated Women’s Clubs of Georgia named the Jane and Arthur Brook family its Family of the Year.

Jane was a gifted homemaker, cook, gardener, SDLQWHU DQG ÀRZHU DUUDQJER. An accomplished needlewoman, she sewed, knitted, crocheted, and embroidered. In the 1960s when pillbox hats were popular, Jane molded a perfect pillbox hat on an upturned Revere Ware pot. Endlessly creative, nothing was beyond her.

A devoted daughter, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Jane was preceded in death by her parents and her niece, Mildred Louise Haga. She is survived by: her devoted and much loved husband, Arthur; her children, Steven Ralph Brook (Nina Morrison Brook), Debra Jane Brook (Michael Farel Kemp), William Dean Brook (Joanna %XI¿QJWRQ /DXULH %URRN Douglas (James Thomas Douglas), and Arthur Freeman Brook; her granddaughter, Katherine Graham Brook Kemp; her ten grandsons, Christopher Anderson Brook (Moira Downey), Matthew Graham Brook (Lydia Iliopoulos Brook), Arthur Benjamin Brook, Anderson Speir Brook Kemp (Natalie Luti), Samuel Brook Douglas, Joseph Morrison Brook, James Arthur Douglas, William Denney Douglas, Robert Cleveland Brook, and Alexander Dean Brook; her great-grandchildren Sophia Ruth Brook, Elias Demetrios Brook, and Isabelle Eugenia Brook; her sister Ann Speir Haga; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Graveside services for family and friends will be held at 2 PM on April 11, 2021 at Paran Baptist Church Cemetery in the community of Blount, Georgia (GPS address: 5691 Hwy 42, Forsyth, Georgia 31029). The family will greet family and friends after the service. Jane’s grandchildren will serve as pallbearers. In OLHX RI ÀRZHUV WKH IDPLO\ requests that donations be made to the Jane Speir Brook Scholarship Fund, Wesleyan College, 4760 Forsyth Road, Macon, GA 31210 or the Paran Cemetery Fund, 5423 N. Hwy 42, Forsyth, GA 30129.

Visit snowsmacon.com to express condolences.

Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Bass Road has charge of the arrangements.

COOK, Dr. James F.

Dr. James F. Cook, age 80, of Rome, GA, died on April 9, 2020 at his home. Son of the late James F. and Alma Jenkins Cook, he was born in Balboa, Panama Canal Zone on December 3, 1940. He grew up and attended the public schools in Washington, D.C. He earned an A.A. at Young Harris College in 1960, a B.A. at Emory University in 1962, an M.A. at Georgia State University in 1964 (the ¿UVW RQH DZDUGHG LQ WKH ¿HOG of history), and a PH.D. at the University of Georgia in 1972.

Dr. Cook is survived by his widow; his son, Sean of Boise, ID; his son, Jamie of Athens, GA; and his sister, Nancy of Dunwoody, GA. Also surviving are one nephew, Geoey, and his wife Michelle and daughter, Evie of Atlanta; Cleta’s son Jeff, wife Stacy, and children Drew and Moriah of Rome; and son Chris, wife Traci, and children Kara Anne and Will of Nashville, TN.

He taught history at Georgia State University for four years until 1970 when he became one of the original faculty members at Floyd Junior College. Dr. Cook taught history at Floyd (now Georgia Highlands College) for 30 years, until retiring in 2000. A rarity in academia today, Dr. Cook was a conservative who had great respect for America’s Founding Fathers and founding documents. An advocate of learning through travel, he spent six weeks in India on a Fulbright-hays grant in 1985 and led 13 bus study-tours of Washington, Gettysburg and Williamsburg as well as 17 tours of Europe. A life-time student of Georgia’s political history, Dr. Cook published numerous articles and four books: Governors of Georgia, a biography of Gov. Carl Sanders, a biography of Rep. Carl Vinson, and a history of Floyd College entitled We Fly By Night. In later years, he published dozens of op-eds on historical and political subjects in the Rome Newstribune.

Although quiet by nature, Dr. Cook often assumed positions of leadership, serving as president of his college fraternity (PIKA), the Polk County Historical Society, the Georgia Association of Historians, the Polk County Republican Party, the Cedartown Optimist Club, and the Georgia Mountain Music Club.

Like the Apostle Paul, Jim looked back at his accomplishments and concluded that they were rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ as Savior.

In 2007, he married Cleta Doan Hardy, a widow, and moved from Cedartown to Rome. She was a wonderful helpmate and they did almost everything together. Cleta shared his interest in music, dance, church work, gardening, travel, entertaining, and sports. She even joined him in watching the Boston Red Sox, the Georgia Bulldogs, and the Atlanta Falcons. Both performed regularly at the Georgia Mountain Music Club, the Gospel Singers at Mcdonald’s, and at numerous assisted living homes. Both also taught a Sunday School class at Northside Church, and Jim played guitar on the Praise Team. Jim was a life-time member of the Optimist Club and the Georgia Association of Historians.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, April 12, at 2:00pm at Northside Church, 75 N. Floyd Park Road, NE, Rome, GA 30165, with the Rev. Phil Wade and 'U &KULV +DUG\ RI¿FLDWING. Entombment will follow in the Oaknoll Memorial Gardens.

The family will receive friends at Northside Church, on Monday from 1:00pm until time of service.

Pallbearers are asked to assemble at the church on Monday at 1:00pm and include; Active: Geoey Cook, Will Hardy, Fred Sylvester, Johnny Davis, Dan Campbell and Jeff Macleod. Honorary pallbearers are: Northside Church Speeders, Georgia Highlands Retirees, and the Saturday Morning Mcdonalds Singers.

,Q OLHX RI ÀRZHUV Grqdtions may be made to the Cook Scholarship at Georgia Highlands College or to Northside Church.

Henderson and Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.

DOSS, Jane

F. Jane White Doss, 83, of Cartersville, Georgia and formerly of Chatsworth and Rome, passed away at Cartersville Medical Center on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. She was a talented stained-glass artist and a retired teacher from the Murray County School System. She was a long-time faithful member of First Baptist Church of Chatsworth. Jane was born in Rome on December 27, 1937 to the late James Claude White and Celesta Gladys Johnston White. She was preceded in death by her husband, Malcolm, son David, and great-grandchild Vincent Doss and siblings Patricia Hampton, Dorothy Howell, Jimmie Nell Baker, Tommy White, and Martha Faye Martin. Survivors include children, Stephen and Elizabeth Doss, Mark and Laura Doss, and Susan and Jeff West; grandchildren Jonathan (Sara) Doss, Jordan (Leighann) Doss, Trevor Doss, Joe (Brittany) West, Tucker (Claudia) West, Caleb West, Rachel Jones, and Deborah (Gabriel) Hankes; great-grandchildren, Holly Doss, Cecilia and Celina Jones, Theo Doss, and Silas West; sisters, Mary Grace Meeks, Evelyn Dodd, and Sue Bradley; sisters-inlaw, Sue (Tommy) White, Glenda (Maurice) Doss, and Jane (Jim) Doss also survive. The family will receive friends Sunday, April 11 from 2-4 p.m. at Chatsworth First Baptist Church. The funeral will follow at Chatsworth First Baptist Church at 4:00 with Rev. George Ross of¿FLDWLQJ %XULDO ZLOO IROORZ in the Chatsworth Heights Cemetery. The family reTXHVWV WKDW ÀRZHUV EH RPLWTED and that donations be made to First Baptist Church of Chatsworth, 121 West Market Street, or to the Murray County Gideon Camp, P.O. Box 44, Chatsworth, GA 30705. Arrangements for Mrs. Jane Doss announced by Jones Funeral Home, 215 West Walnut Street, Chatsworth, GA 30705.

EDWARDS, Sarah Jane

Mrs. Sarah Jane Edwards, age 77, of Armuchee, GA, passed away on Thursday, April 8, 2021, at her residence.

Mrs. Edwards was born in Chattooga County, GA on March 25,1944, daughter of the late Ray Gilliland and the late Lerlene Pickle Gilliland. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Ted Little Edwards Sr., and by a sister, Ann Fowler. Prior to her retirement, she was a Supervisor at Best Manufacturing Co. She was a member of Floyd Springs Baptist Church.

Survivors include her three sons, Ted Edwards, Jr. (Tina), Armuchee, David Edwards (Leann), Lindale, and Thomas Edwards, Armuchee; sister, Margaret Ray; two brothers, Wayne and Bobby Gilliland; 9 grandchildren, Ashley Comer (Christian), Blake Edwards (Trudy), Dawson Edwards, Megan Edwards, Josey Edwards Whitlock (Tyler), Aubrie Edwards (Nick Tucker), Weston Edwards, and Rachel and Emily Phipps; 4 great grandchildren, Blakely and Emmy Comer and Tate and Tucker Whitlock; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 3pm at the Chapel at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel. The Rev. Charles Izell, the Rev. Sam Bice, and the Rev. Thomas Edwards will of¿FLDWH ,QWHUPHQW ZLOO Irolow in Floyd Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.

The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, on Sunday from 1:00pm until time of the service. At other hours, they may be contacted at the residence of a son, Ted Edwards, Jr., 25 Ashley Oaks Trail, Rome.

Pallbearers serving are asked to assemble at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, at 2:30pm on Sunday and include: Blake and Dawson Edwards, Christian Comer, Billy, Lamar, Kevin, and Chance Gilliland.

Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, North Chapel, has charge of the funeral arrangements.

EVANS, Ethel Francis Payne

Ethel Francis Payne Evans, of Rome Georgia, passed away peacefully in her home with family at the bedside. She is preceded in death by her husband, Donald Edward Evans, their daughter Gloria Suzanne Evans, and her parents Holman Dock Payne and Alice Catherine 0F'XI¿H DV ZHOO DV KHU VLVWHU $QQHDVH 0F'XI¿H 6KH is survived by her daughters Jennifer Moore (Randall) and Sally Evans, her grandchildren Josh Moore (Sara) and Kinsey Allen (Chris) and multiple grandchildren. Her surviving siblings are Betty Kimsey, Ruth Justus (Lloyd), Ann Wikle (Johnny), Carolyn Moody (Roy), and 7RQ\ 0F'XI¿H 6KH LV DOVR survived by her sister-in-law Joyce Hufstetler as well as countless beloved nieces and nephews.

She was born in Homer Georgia in 1940. After graduating from a lab technology program, she became WKH ¿UVW ODE LQWHUQ DW )OR\G Medical Center. She later worked for pediatrician Harland Starr and then retired from Northwest Regional Hospital after more than 25 years working in the PHGLFDO ¿HOG

She was actively involved in volunteer work after retirement. She volunteered with Cancer Navigators, Many Streams and greeted the public with a smile at Harbin Clinic Cancer Center. As a three-time cancer survivor she was a source of support and encouragement for those battling the disease.

A private graveside service with be held Tuesday, April 13th at 11:00 am at Salmon Cemetery, New Calhoun Rd NE, Adairsville, Georgia. Friends and Family are encouraged to gather and pay respects at the home Monday and Tuesday.

,Q OLHX RI ÀRZHUV VKH Uhquested donation be made to Cancer Navigators.

Deep appreciation to Transitions Hospice for the wonderful care she received. Those who cared for her quickly became like family.

SMITH, David Lamar

David Lamar Smith, 68, of Cedartown, GA passed away on 03/18/2021.

He was born 01/19/1953 in Rome, GA, and was the son of the late Lamar & Rachael Smith.

He is survived by; Daughter, Mandy R. Meyer, Grandson, Everett HB Pettis, & three sister’s & 2 brothers

David will be greatly missed, he was a loving father, grandfather, and brave Army veteran.

TARPLEY, Sr. , Thomas Joseph

“Going once, going twice....sold!” magic words for a lifetime auctioneer. Inductions into the Georgia Auctioneers Hall of Fame in 1988 and the National Auctioneers Hall of Fame in 1999, as well as the 1991 Georgia State Champion Auctioneer, Joe Tarpley witnessed the transformation of his profession from road signs and plastic banners to and internet only auctions, with each change, remaining Associates until his recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

The only child of Rachel and Joseph C. “Buster” Tarpley, Joe spent his growing up years playing with cousins, Tom and Jim Ford, on their farm, surrounded by aunts and uncles. As a young man, Joe gained a life-long love of quail and dove hunting, thanks to his Grandfather Thomas Wall and Uncle Gaston Wall and he developed into quite a sharpshooter. Even during a 2019 quail hunt, soon after an accidental fall, Joe got back to his feet and shot two quail with two shots from his gun. He was also a Life Sponsor of Ducks Unlimited.

Joe and his wife of 62 years, June, have three children, Joe Jr., Susan and Chris. They enjoyed each other so much, especially as Joe planned great vacations which included going out West, spending time at the beach and introducing the kids to Washington D.C. for the J.L. Todd Auction Company for over 42 years. He managed sales from the east to west coast including Puerto Rico and Canada. He held real estate licenses in Georgia, North Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida. He had a wide proled him to receive Realtor of the Year as well as a Humanitarian Service Award from the Greater Rome Board of Realtors. Joe even taught at Berry College and facilitated continuing education events through the Georgia Association of Realtors. Joe loved his job—from the prep for the sale to the thrill calling the auction to the closing gavel. Voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by his Rome High School Class of 1957, Joe was very successful and accomplished in his profession. Auctioneering was something that gave him meaning, joy and purpose. From all the travels throughout the country for auction sales, do, introducing colleagues to the best BBQ joints wherever they traveled to a sale.

Joe’s leadership in the auctioneering world was matched with his involvement and commitment to God through Trinity United Methodist Church in Rome. His organizational skills, his teaching and leadership in the Fellowship Sunday School Class to the Board of Trustees and Staff Parish committee and especially managing numerous successful pledge campaigns have been an invaluable part of Trinity Church’s health and growth. Charts of people for each service, written on yellow legal pads were often found beside Joe’s chair in the den, tucked into his Bible or Sunday School book. His leadership and commitment on the local church level proved effective on the Rome-carrollton District level as well. He chaired the District Council on Ministries and the Church Building and Relocation Committee. He was a very skilled lay speaker who rounded and addressed many Methodist Circuits throughout West Georgia. The lifelong friends Joe and June developed through their church, created a community of faith that has supported each other through the full cycle of life: marriages, children, grand-children and medical diagnoses and problems inherent with aging.

Recently, June and Joe’s daughter, Susan was out for a morning walk around Redmond Hospital. She ran across a brick with her Dad’s name on it: “JOE TARPLEY 2001.” That brick was to acknowledge Joe’s receipt of the Award of Honor for being “Heart of the Community.” that “Happy Joe,” as the grandkids know him, was not only the heart of Roman Community, he’s the heart of and unloading of the dishwasher, the circle of ketchup he intentionally drew from the center of the burger to its edge, his love of a good story and his full throated, raucous laugh will be sorely missed. Joe leaves behind his wife, June, three dedicated and caring children, Thomas Joseph Tarpley, Jr. (Veranita Alvord) of Reidsville, NC, Susan Tarpley Stout (Dwight Stout) of Rome and Chris Tarpley (Emily Tarpley) of Calhoun. Mimi and Happy Joe have seven grand-children: Katie Stout Storey-pitts (Kevin), Sidney Stout Klein (Conner), Caroline Tarpley, Olivia Tarpley, Blake Garland, Brett Garland and Ivan Tarpley. Funeral Services through Daniel’s Funeral Home and Cremation Services are on Monday, April 12 with Visitation beginning at 12:30 followed by the Funeral beginning at 2:00 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Rome. Pallbearers inMr. Dwight Tolbert, Mr. Dennis Thompson, Mr. Sam Evans, Mr. Spence Cantrell, Mr. Jerry Watford, Mr. Thom Holt. Additionally, The Fellowship Sunday School Class, Trinity United Methodist Church, shall be honorary pallbearers. Rev. Nanci Hicks and Rev. Joe Tarpley, Jr. will be Celebrating Joe Sr.’s full, vibrant life...going once, going twice, SOLD!

The family asks in lieu of tions to Trinity UMC and to National Auctioneers Foundation

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