Thomas County GaArchives Obituaries.....Robert Leon VanLandingham July 21 2003
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Sheila Martin SheilaM78@comcast.net July 25, 2003, 10:13 am

Thomasville Times Enterprise - July 24, 2003

Services for Robert Leon VanLandingham, 82, of Cairo, were at 10 a.m. 
Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Cairo. The Rev. Richard Soper 
will officiate, with interment at Greenwood Cemetery in Cairo. Active 
pallbearers were Chuck Thomas, Randy Wind, Everett Allen, Don Hancock, Steve 
Wooten, Tom Lehman, Jay Tyson and Rusty Moye. Honorary pallbearers are Truman 
Lastinger, John Hinson, Chuck Stafford, Steve Floore, Bob Jones, Jarrell 
McClenny, Bill Bass, Willie West, Robert Sellers and Jim Wyatt. Mr. 
VanLandingham died on Monday, July 21, 2003, at Grady General Hospital. Born 
on March 6, 1921, in Cairo, he was a son of the late Robert Roscoe and Mabel 
Maxwell VanLandingham. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Louise 
Nelson VanLandingham. He was a lifetime resident of Grady County and was a 
retired staff writer at the Cairo Messenger and was a lifetime member of Cairo 
First United Methodist Church, where he served as a Sunday school teacher for 
several years. He graduated from Cairo High School in 1938, Wingate Junior 
College in Wingate, N.C., in 1940, and the University of Georgia's Henry W. 
Grady School of Journalism in 1942. He served as principal and seventh grade 
teacher at Calvary School for the term 1946-47. He then joined his father and 
brother in operation of R.R. VanLandingham Inc., the local dealership for 
Pontiac Cars, International Trucks and Farmall Tractors, remaining there until 
it closed in 1982, when he joined the Cairo Messenger as a staff writer, 
retiring in 2002. He was a charter member of the Cairo Rotary Club. He served 
as a Cairo City Councilman for 16 years, served as a member of the Grady 
County Board of Education 14 years and as chairman during integration of the 
schools. He served as a member and chairman of the Grady County Hospital 
Authority for approximately 20 years. He joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1942 
and served aboard an escort frigate in the Southwest Pacific from New Guinea 
to Leyte Gulf. He was serving aboard an LST when the war with Japan ended. 
Survivors include sons and daughters-in-law, Robert and Phyllis VanLandingham 
of Panama City, Fla., Richard and Teresa VanLandingham of Cairo, Thomas and 
Lanell VanLandingham of Statesboro, John and Cindy VanLandingham of Nashville; 
grandsons, J.J. VanLandingham of Durango, Colo., Chris VanLandingham of 
Irvine, Calif., Rob VanLandingham of Panama City, Fla., and Jeffery 
VanLandingham of Nashville; granddaughters, Amy Simmons of Stevens City, Va., 
Mary Beth VanLandingham of Birmingham, Ala., Nikki VanLandingham of Panama 
City, Fla., and Samantha VanLandingham and Mary VanLandingham, both of 
Nashville; a great grandson, Jeremy VanLandingham of Durango, Colo.; and 
sisters, Mabel V. Kral and Beth V. Wight, both of Cairo, and Mary V. Hackney 
of Tallahassee, Fla. He was preceded in death by a brother, William M. 
VanLandingham. Memorials may be made to the Grady General Support League, P.O. 
Box 837, Cairo, GA 39828. -- Clark Funeral Home

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