Randolph County AlArchives Obituaries.....Payne, Thomas M.  July 16, 1950
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Linda Ayres http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007674 April 9, 2023, 2:56 pm

Roanoke Leader
Funeral services for Thomas McKinley Payne, prominent Alabama bus operator and 
Roanoke civic builder, were held at the Roanoke First Methodist Church at 3:00 
o'clock Monday afternoon, July 17. Mr. Payne, 54 years of age, died in a 
Columbus, Ga., hospital Sunday afternoon following an illness of only four days. 
Some twenty years ago Mr. Payne established here the East Alabama Coach Lines, 
providing a much-needed bus service for a rather isolated section of Alabama. 
The service grew, to provide the people of this section with connections to all 
points by way of Anniston, Alexander City, and Opelika, Ala., and LaGrange and 
Columbus, Ga. From the beginning, Roanoke was the hub of these operations. 
Later, Mr. Payne established the Tiger Bus Co. to serve the residents of Opelika 
and Auburn, and the Cotton Belt Bus Co. to transport workers to the Valley 
textile mills. At the time of his death, he was president of the East Alabama 
Coach Lines, the Tiger Bus Co., and the Cotton Belt Bus Co., all with 
headquarters in Roanoke, and was vice-president of the Alabama Bus Association. 
Mr. Payne was a former member of the Roanoke City Council and was at the time of 
his death a member of the Roanoke Planning Commission. He was a Mason, a 
Shriner, and a member of the Congregational Christian Church. Wherever he 
served, it was with quietness and calm good humor. Surviving Mr. Payne are his 
wife, Mrs. Janie Knight Payne; two children, June Elaine Payne and Thomas 
McKinley Payne Jr.; his mother, Mrs. J. W. Payne of Wedowee; four brothers, 
Grover, Leon, and Carson Payne of Wedowee, and K. M. Payne of Roanoke; and one 
sister, Mrs. W. H. Stevens of Roanoke. In charge of the funeral services were 
the Rev. Charles T. Ferrell and the Rev. G. D. Hunt. Interment was in the 
Roanoke city cemetery, Quattlebaum's Funeral Home directing. Pallbearers were 
Joe Brittain, William Radney, William Belcher, Tom McMurray, Mervin Harper, S. 
P. McDonald, John Lacy, and John Will Dunn.

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