Mrs. Ruth Jarrell Thames

Mrs. Ruth Jarrell Thames died Saturday, February 21, 2015, at Providence Health and Rehab following an extended illness. Graveside funeral services will be held Monday, February 23, 2015, at 2 PM in South View Cemetery with Rev. Herb Flanders officiating. Family visitation will be Monday from 12:30 until 1:30 PM at Fletcher-Day Funeral Home. Mrs. Thames, 91, was a native of Athens, Georgia, and attended college at the University of Georgia. She was a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority and loved to stay in touch with her sorority sisters who took reunion trips together. Following civil service work with the United States Navy Pre-Flight School on the Athens campus during WWII, Ruth graduated with a degree in Business Administration of Secretarial Science. While working as secretary to the director of the UGA Music Department, she met the love of her life, Claude Dunn Thames of Thomasville. They married in 1948 and moved to Thomaston, where she was employed with the welfare department, and Claude was employed with the Thomaston Broadcasting Company at radio station WSFT. She worked for eleven years as secretary to the superintendent of the Thomaston School System before retiring in 1983. Ruth was an active member of the First United Methodist Church, and she helped with many Cub Scout, youth, and community activities. A talented artist, Ruth favored oil paintings of landscapes and still-life, and she had many of her works displayed in local shows. As a 20-plus year survivor of breast cancer, Ruth was also a strong supporter of the American Cancer Society and was extremely active in the Thomaston Bosom Buddies, a local group dedicated to Relay for Life cancer survivor events. Born August 14, 1923, Ruth was the daughter of the late Sadie Murray Jarrell and John William Jarrell, Sr., of Athens, Ga. Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Claude D. Thames, and her brother John Jarrell, Jr. of Decatur, Ga. She is survived by her sons, John W. Thames of Thomaston, and Brian J. Thames and his wife Deborah Fortner Thames of Stone Mountain, Ga.; a granddaughter, Bethany Thames of Atlanta, Ga.; sisters-in-law Gladys Susan Thames of Thomasville, Ga. and JoAnn Bradford Jarrell of Decatur, Ga. She is also survived by her nieces, Linda Jarrell Harrington and husband Jay Harrington of Loganville, Ga., Margaret Bitner of Navasota, Tx., and Joanne Harrington of Houston, Tx.; nephews James Peck, Jr. and wife Gail of Charlotte, NC, and William Peck and wife Sheila of Spring Mills, PA. Fletcher-Day Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.