Schley County GaArchives Obituaries.....Lawhorn, J.M. September 26, 1940 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Harris Hill http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002514 September 27, 2006, 8:25 am The Ellaville Sun Friday, Oct. 4, 1940 No. 16 J.M. LAWHORN, SCHLEY'S OLDEST MAN DIES AT 103 J.M. Lawhorn, Schley County's oldest citizen who lived 103 years in good health and firm aloofness of modernity, was buried Friday afternoon in the white sand of a churchyard near the home from which he never went more than 50 miles. Enfeebled and grief-stricken, a 74 year-old daughter and a 71 year-old son were among relatives and friends who gathered at (the) 103 year-old Primitive Baptist church for a simple funeral service, and stood under leaden skies in a biting northeast wind to see his body lowered to rest beside his wife, who died two years ago at the age of 101 after they had been married for 75 years. The white-haired farmer, whose physique and bearing belied his age, passed on Thursday afternoon at 2:45 o'clock after an illness of two weeks. He remained fully conscious until two days before his death. He would have reached his 104th birthday next February 1. "I never seen a man die so peacefully," said a neighboring farm youth. "He didn't make no 'ter do, or no struggle at tall." Mr. Lawhorn, who explained he "never got around to learning how to read and write, shied away from most changes of the old way of life. He never rode on a railroad train, talked over a telephone, wore a pair of eyeglasses, (or) owned a radio. He went no farther from home than Phenix City, Ala., 50 miles away. Two weeks before his 102nd birthday, he ran out on the first motion picture he ever saw soon after the performance began because, he put it picturesquely, it was "too much like lightning." The movie was "Alexander's Rag Time Band." A tee-totaler, he did not drink, smoke or chew. His daughter, Mrs. Lou Moulton, is 73; his eldest son, Sim, is 71; a second son, Sam, is 67. There are 20 grandchildren, the oldest being 44, and 18 great grandchildren, the oldest in his middle twenties. Only several hours before the funeral did relatives decide to carry his body to the church in a truck instead of a wagon. He had insisted upon use of a wagon for his wife's funeral. His eldest son rode beside the gray coffin as the procession traveled two miles to the church where Elder Hassell McCorkle, the pastor, conducted the 40 minute service. Without accompaniment of any instrument, the congregation sand "Shall we gather at the river," most of the mourners patting their feet. Elder McCorkle knelt in the pulpit in a five minute prayer. He read the entire 14th chapter of Job, and based his remarks upon its opening verse, "Man that is born of woman is of few days, full of trouble." After emphasizing the inevitable cares of every normal life, the minister visualized the wonders of heaven. "All of us think this man lived a long time," declared he, "but that's not a drop in the bucket compared to eternity." The congregation, grouped near the front of the chilly "meeting house", sang "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" as the first neighbors and then the family past the coffin to accept the preacher's invitation to view the body "for the last time before the dreadful day of judgment." Overcome, the 71 year old son bent over the coffin and uttered several loud, awesome cries. The thinning congregation stretched the dirgeful measures of its closing song. Outside, a soft wind moaned through the scrub oaks. Grandsons carried him to his last rest. They were Sam, Clyde, Rufus and Elbert Lawhorn; Grady Moulton, Luther Myrick. Standing with a bowed, bare head before the grave, Elder McCorkle raised his hand and asked comfort for loved ones "who understand they cannot bring him back to them, but know that by the grace of God, they can go to him........" So ended a last tribute as free of ceremony and pretense as the man to whom it was paid, a man whom earlier he had praised for "an honorable, quiet and peaceful life"; the last man among his neighbors who followed long past its heydey a way of life their pioneer ancestors came and which, now that he has forsaken it, is gone forever. Additional Comments: When last I was at Philippi cemetery, the were no marked graves for Mr. and Mrs. Lawhorn. I can only presume the the graves went unmarked or that over time the markers may have been covered over by sand. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/schley/obits/l/lawhorn5395gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.9 Kb