Obituaries for Sept. 7

Published 10:44 pm Thursday, September 6, 2007

Eva Nell Hall Harnage

MOULTRIE — Eva Nell Hall Harnage, 84, of Moultrie, died Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, at Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at Cobb Funeral Chapel with the Rev. Elkin Harnage officiating. Interment will follow in Westview Cemetery. Johnathan Harnage, Justin Harnage, Steven Taylor, Caleb Malone, Rodney Jones and Jason Scites will serve as pallbearers.

Born Aug. 6, 1923, in Colquitt County to the late Durrad and Eva Rae Carlton Hall, she was a binder for Cape Kennedy Book Company in Cocoa, Fla. She was of the Holiness faith and was the widow of the late William Elkin Harnage.

Survivors include two sons, Emory Harnage and wife Gail of Meigs and Gary Harnage and wife Angie of Winter Haven, Fla.; a brother, Isaac Hall of Doerun; three grandchildren, Elkin Harnage, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelia Malone; and eight great grandchildren.

The family will receive friends today, Sept. 7, from 6 until 8 p.m. at Cobb Funeral Chapel and may be contacted at the home of Emory and Gail Harnage, 6747 Lower Meigs Road in Meigs.

Cobb Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.



Ida Belle Pyles Stafford

MOULTRIE — Ida Belle Pyles Stafford, 95, of Moultrie died Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, at Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, at Harrell-Faircloth Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Johnny Cooper and the Rev. Ronald Davis officiating. Interment will follow at Pleasant Hill Cemetery with Mike Lollar, MacFarland Pyles, Mike Horne, Terry Howard, Sharon Gaines-Vann, Kelvin Baldree, Marty Stafford and Gary Stafford serving as pallbearers.

Born May 25, 1912, in Colquitt County, Mrs. Stafford was the daughter of the late Hattie Elizabeth Croft Pyles and the late John Wesley Pyles. She was a homemaker and was of the Baptist faith.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Barney Stafford; two sons, Clyde “Bo” Stafford and Earl Stafford; a daughter, Eloyce Whitley; two brothers, Calvin Pyles and Mac Pyles; and four sisters, Kathleen Davis, Gladys Hiers, Dora Spradley and Opal Manning.

Survivors include three sons, Sonny Stafford and Morris Stafford, both of Moultrie, and Richard Stafford of North Pole, Alaska; four daughters, Debbie Woodlief, Esther Lashley and Linda Stafford, all of Moultrie, and Louisa Gainer of Tallahassee, Fla.; and many grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 tonight at the funeral home.

Harrell-Faircloth Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.



Mary Lou Lowery Hiers

GRIFFIN — Mary Lou Lowery Hiers, 95, of Griffin, formerly of Moultrie, died Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, in Griffin.

Funeral arrangements will be announced by Harrell-Faircloth Funeral Home.



Dee Plymel Sports

CONYERS — Dee Plymel Sports, 71, died Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, after an extended illness from a liver disease diagnosed three years ago. She had been under hospice care at home in Conyers for the past three months.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, at the Ebenezer United Methodist Church, 2533 Stanton Road in Conyers with the Revs. Robert Brown and CeCe Nickolich officiating. Tributes will be given by state Reps. Tommy Smith of Alma, Ga., and Margaret Kaiser of Atlanta, Ga., former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, former U.S. Congressman Dawson Mathis, and Truett Andrew, vice president and trustee of Paul Anderson Youth Home.

Pallbearers will be Don Sports Jr., Greg Giddens, Joseph Giddens, Kenny Wilson, Keith Wilson, James Plymel and Sonny Gardner. Boys from the Paul Anderson Youth Home will serve as honorary pallbearers.

Burial will be 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery with the Rev. Thomas Parrish officiating and Cobb Funeral Chapel in charge of arrangements.

Born Jan. 21, 1936, in Brooks County, Mrs. Sports completed high school in Thomasville and graduated from Dell Institute of Medical Technologists in Ashville, N.C. She was the daughter of Ed and Sara Branch Plymel of Thomasville and granddaughter of John and Minnie Branch of Pavo, all of whom preceded her in death. Beginning in 1983, she was on the staff of Georgia’s Secretary of State, serving as personal secretary to Assistant Secretary of State Curtis Atkinson. She also worked at the State Archives for two years prior to her retirement from state government in 2000.

She was medical technician at the Douglas Coffee County Hospital in Douglas when she met and married newspaper reporter Joe Sports. She accompanied her husband to Germany and lived in Garmisch during his Army service and traveled in 13 countries. On two occasions, they lived in Washington, D.C., when he was assistant to Congresswoman Iris Blitch and as chief of staff of U.S. Sen. David Gambrell.

The couple had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on Feb. 24 in Conyers, Ga. A resolution in the Georgia General Assembly earlier this year commended Dee Sports for “unyielding strength and unparalleled inspiration to her family, her community, church and state government.”

She is survived by her husband, Joe Sports, who was executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia during the administrations of Govs. Lester Maddox and Jimmy Carter, and congressional assistant before becoming a legislative consultant and publisher of a newsletter, Georgia Beat. Their daughter is Susan Sports, information officer for the State of Georgia’s Department of Driver Services, and they have two grandsons, Ali Joseph and Amir Sadighi.

She is also survived by an aunt, Elizabeth Snider of Pavo, Ga.; sister-in-law, Ida Mae Sports of Claxton, Ga.; sister, Ann Sports Messmore and husband Jasper of Dunwoody, Ga.; niece, Sandra Toler, of Nashville, Tenn.; nephews, W. Don Sports Jr. of Macon, Ga., Greg Giddens of Atlanta, and Joseph Giddens of Atlanta; and several cousins from the Sports, Branch and Plymel families.

Visitation will be Sunday, Sept. 9, at Rockdale Chapel of Horis A. Ward Funeral Home, located at 1999 Hwy. 138 S.W. in Conyers, Ga., from 7 to 9 p.m.

There is a Dee Sports Memorial Fund at the Paul Anderson Youth Home, Inc., Box 525, Vidalia, Ga. 30375, which was the first client when the Sports began a public relations firm in 1971.

Horis A. Ward Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.