Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Gay, Josiah B. Sr., 1946 

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JOE BYNUM GAY

JOE BYNUM GAY DEAD; FORMER MAYOR AND PROMINENT MERCHANT

   At 6:50 o’clock Thursday morning, December 26, in Raiford Memorial Hospital 
death terminated the career of Josiah Bynum Gay, Sr., former Mayor of Franklin.

   Mr. Gay’s health had been in a precarious state for some months; but his 
passing, while not wholly unexpected, came after an illness of only a few 
hours.  He was stricken on Christmas Eve at his place of business on Second 
Avenue, necessitating his removal to his residence on Clay Street.  Responding 
to treatment by his physician, he improved sufficiently to participate in the 
family celebration on Christmas morning.  By noon, however, his condition took 
a sharp turn for the worse and he was carried to the hospital, where emergency 
measurers gave temporary relief.  He was conscious at midnight, when he 
recognized and spoke to his niece, Miss Antoinette Parker, who had been 
summoned from Danville.

   Josiah Bynum Gay, the eldest son of the late Littleton A. Gay and Mrs. 
Elizabeth Rosa (Bryant) Gay, was born at "Rosedale" the Gay estate in 
Southampton County, on February 18, 1873.  As a young man he was employed in 
the store of his uncle, the late Josiah Powell Gay, in Franklin.  On February 
15, 1901, he went into the mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Walter 
Greenhow Parker; but the partner-ship was dissolved in June of the same year 
when Mr. Parker announced his intention to study for the Methodist ministry. 
From that time until 1938 he continued in the dry goods and notions business 
at 106 N. Main Street, his "House That Values Built" being a popular 
establishment.  Since 1938 until the time of his death he had engaged in the 
selling of radios and other electrical appliances.

   On April 17, 1899, Mr. Gay was married to Miss Annie Lee Gardner, daughter 
of Abraham Littleton and the late Mrs. Bettie Lee Gardner.  To this union was 
born on October 27, 1904, a son, Josiah Bynum Gay, Jr., who survives.  Mrs. 
Gay died on March 7, 1933, after a brief illness.  A sister, Miss Annie E. 
Gay, died in 1937, and a brother, L. Ashby Gay, long-time Recorder of the town 
of Franklin, died a year later.

   Always a public-spirited citizen, Mr. Gay was elected Mayor of Franklin in 
1916, after nine years of service on the Town Council.  He held the office of 
Mayor from September 1, 1916, to August 31, 1922, a period which included the 
first World War and the difficult years immediately thereafter.  He served the 
public once more when, on June 14, 1938, he was elected Town Commissioner for 
a four-year term.  He was also chairman of the Franklin District Democratic 
Executive Committee.

   Joining the Franklin Baptist Church in early manhood, Mr. Gay had been a 
member of the Board of Deacons for twenty-four years, much of which time he 
was Chairman of the Board.  He was also a charter member of the Franklin 
Rotary Club, in whose activities he always displayed a lively interest.

   He is survived by his son, Joe Bynum Gay, Jr., his sister, Mrs. Rosa Gay 
Holt, and his grandson, Joe Bynum Gay, 3rd, all of Franklin; two nieces, Miss 
Antoinette Parker and Mrs. S.F. Winiker, Jr., of Danville; a nephew, Douglas 
Leigh Holt, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; an aunt, Mrs. J.A. Jackson, of Franklin; 
and by two great-nephews and a great-niece.

   Funeral services were conducted from the Baptist Church on Friday 
afternoon, December 27, at 3 o’clock, with the pastor, Rev. R.D. Stephenson, 
officiating.  Interment was in the family plot in Poplar Spring cemetery, with 
the following acting as pallbearers: Frank R. Day, George H. Parker, G. Carl 
Steinhardt, Gardner T. Edwards, George O. Watkins, Cecil C. Vaughan, 3rd, J. 
Linwood Edwards, and Edgar B. Jackson.


Josiah "Joe" Bynum GAY, Sr., Franklin merchant, former Councilman & Mayor, 
b. 18 Feb 1873, "Rosedale," Southampton Co., d. 26 Dec 1946, Franklin, 
interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Section 1, Plot 5*), Franklin, 
   27 Dec 1946, 
"The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Jan. 3, 1947, p. 1 

*Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS}, Cemetery Project, 
   Poplar Spring list: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/poplar1.txt 

His wife's obit ("Tidewater News," Mar. 10, 1933), with their marriage record 
   appended, is posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/g000a1ob.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/g000j5ob.txt