Thomas Worsham Obituary

WORSHAM, Thomas JEFFERSONVILLE - Thomas Faulk Worsham, 84, died Sunday, February 11, 2007, in Virginia. Services will be held Saturday February 17, 2007 at 2:00PM in the Jeffersonville Baptist Church. Burial will be in the Jeffersonville City Cemetery. Rev. Tom Alexander will officiate. Tom was born August 28, 1922 in Monroe County, Georgia, a son of the late Hubert L. Worsham and Mary Faulk Worsham. His mother and her children moved shortly afterward to Jeffersonville, Georgia to live with her family after the premature death of his father. Tom spent his childhood years on the family farm inJeffersonville and graduated from Twiggs County High School, where he played varsity basketball, in 1939. He attended North Georgia College, which at the time was a two year college and a military school. He went on to the University of Georgia, graduating with a degree in finance, and enlisted in the Army. He entered the Army as a Staff Sergeant int he Infantry and was sent to France in October of 1944, a few months after D-Day. He began World War II as a rifle platoon sergeant assigned to Company K, 399th Infantry Regiment, 100th Division, 7th Army. The 100th Division fought its way against heavy opposition from Baccarat, France in October, to Heilbronn, Germany by the following April. Tom was wounded by mortar fire, but was able to return to his unit after a hospital stay and was with the 100th until the end of the war. He received the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, among other awards. He also received a field commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. He spent another year in occupied Germany before returning home to Georgia. Tom obtained a Master's Degree in Education form Mercer University and had a brief career as a principal, teacher and basketball coach in Valdosta, Georgia area. He was reactivated as an army officer for a short time during the Korean War, during which he served as an instructor at Fort Benning, Georgia. On his return to civilian life, he married Clancy McCaleb of Fayette, Alabama, and moved back to his hometown of Jeffersonville, Georgia. He wroked as a rural letter carrier in Twiggs County fo about 30 years, working out of the Jeffersonville Post Office and later the Danville Post Office. He earned the Million Mile safe driver award during his time as a letter carrier. He also was one of the first television repairmen in the Jeffersonville area. Tom and his brother, the late Bill Worsham, raised Hereford and Charolais beef cattle and hay for many years on their family farm outside of Jeffersonville. Tom was a member of the Jeffersonville Baptist Church from early childhood. He served there in many roles, including many years as a deacon and Sunday School teacher. He served on the Twiggs County Board of Education for several years and was later a Tax Assessor. He enjoyed tennis and quail hunting in his younger days and was a serious gardener and orchardman. He loved refinishing antique furniture and walking the woods and fields of his ancestral farm in his later years. He was a kind and loving father and grandfather, a devoted husband, a committed Christian, and an engaged citizen of his town and his nation. His love for his family endured even as he slowly succumbed to the ravages of Alzheimer's dementia. He is survived by his wife, Clancy McCaleb Worsham, his son Dr. Stephen Worsham and wife Christine of Charleston, SC, his daughter, Mary Worsham Cantley and hisband Kevin of Atlanta, GA, his daughter, Sharon Worsham Kellis and husband Rob of Colonial Heights, VA, his brother Hubert L Worsham and wife Jewel of Folkston, GA, and his grandchildren, Benjamin Worsham, Thomas Cantley, Elizabeth Kellis, Caroline Kellis and Catherine Kellis. He was predeceased by his brother Bill Worsham and his sister Alice Worsham Porter. Memorials may be made to the Jeffersonville Baptist Church, The Jeffersonville City Cemetery Committee, or to the Alzheimers Association. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 Friday in the Funeral Home. Reece Funeral Home in Jeffersonville, GA has charge of arrangements. Visit our guestbook at www.charleston.net/deaths.