Susan Gibson Sims

A graveside service for Susan Gibson Sims, who died Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, at her home in Fort Valley, Ga., will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Green Hills Memorial Park in Troy with the Rev. Steve Rascoe officiating.

Ms. Sims was a public school teacher and librarian in Alabama and Georgia, and before her retirement, she taught in Fort Valley for three decades.

In her career, she touched the lives of thousands of children. She was a passionate and lifelong reader, with a strong interest in politics and current events; a caring and giving friend; and a loving and selfless mother, sister, daughter and grandmother.

Ms. Sims was born in Florence on June 6, 1941, the first of three children to her late parents, Dr. Carl Bascom Gibson Sr. and Nell Wikle Gibson. She spent her childhood there and later in Troy.

She attended Auburn University and received her undergraduate degree in education from Troy State University. While teaching full time and raising three children, she earned a master's degree in education from Fort Valley State University.

She is survived by her three children, Allen Vance (Pam) of Dunwoody, Ga., Gibson Vance (Kate) of Montgomery, and Laura Anne Melnick (Jan) of Warner Robins, Ga.; and five grandchildren, Kate, Marissa, Langdon, Carter and Andrew.

She also is survived by her sister, Nancy Ann Gibson of Stone Mountain, Ga., her brother, Carl Bascom Gibson Jr. (and wife Kathy and their daughter Carrie) of Troy; and numerous cousins in Alabama and Georgia.

Memorials be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Leola Lewis

Funeral services for Leola Lewis, 86 ,of Troy, who died at Enterprise Nursing Home Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006, will be at 11 a.m. today at Dillard Funeral Home in Troy with the Rev. Donnie Marler officiating.

Burial will follow at Victoria Baptist Church Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until the time of the service today the funeral home.

Her husband of 63 years, Jonnie G. Lewis, preceded her in death.

She is survived by her children, Douglas (Eileen) Lewis of Level Plains, James T. (Barbara) Lewis of Midville, Ga., and Jene (Johnny) White of Troy; five grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; two sisters, Grace McCollough of Victoria and Johnnie Mae Watson of Enterprise.