Barbara Mizell Davis Morgan, 98, passed from this life on Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. Her husband, Jack Hays Morgan Sr., and son, Davis Carter Morgan, preceded her in death. She is survived by seven children, 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Born on March 25, 1918, she grew up as one of five children in the family of Ernest and Edna Davis, who lived in the logging and naval stores settlement called Crandall on the St. Marys River in Nassau County. The children were educated in a one-room school with a teacher who resided with her family. Lumber and naval stores were shipped down the river to ports all over the world. When her father and his brothers sold their property to Rayonier, the family moved to Fernandina Beach, where Barbara graduated from high school.
Afterward, she attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga., where she received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in 1939. She, her mother, two sisters and two cousins made a six-week tour of Europe after her graduation. It remained a highlight of her life, although she made other trips abroad in later years. They returned on the Normandie with blackout curtains at the windows on the last trip the ocean liner made before the outbreak of World War II.
Through friends made in Macon, she was hired to teach first grade at the school for the children of parents who worked at the Bibb Manufacturing Co. in Porterdale, Ga. There she was introduced to Jack, then working at the mill, who became her husband on June 16, 1945. He asked her to marry him two years before she gave him an answer. They were married for 63 years before he died in 2009.
Barbara became the rock on which Jack built an ambitious career, his quiet pillar of strength and unwavering helpmate. They reared eight children on a farm he cleared on the banks of the Alcovy River just east of Covington, Ga. She backed his forays in the early local pulpwood industry, in cattle and dairy farming, in cotton, peaches, wheat and hay, in real estate investment and development, in grading, paving, and politics. The family was active in First United Methodist Church of Covington. Barbara was a Cub Scout and Brownie Girl Scout leader, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Covington Woman’s Club. In 1964, the club named her Mother of the Year. Her children think she earned and deserved the title every year.
Survivors are her children: Barbara Mallette Morgan (Bob Furnad), Jack Hays “Buddy” Morgan Jr. (Melody), Emily Morgan Adams (Lanier), John Ernest Morgan (Robbi), William Howard Morgan (Amy), Edna Morgan Kirkley and Daniel Thomas Morgan. Grandchildren are: Ben Morgan (Connie), Justin Morgan (Melody) and April Ruark (Jason); Dessa Edwards (John), Will Adams and Meg Adams; Abigail Coggin (Derek), Melissa Parker (Brad) and Savannah Hembree (Mike); Adam Morgan (Brittany) and Ashley Morgan; Sam Morgan, Whit Morgan (Nicole), Lydia Morgan and Cooper Morgan (Jessica); Dylan Kirkley (Megan) and Shelby Boehm (Robert). Great-grandchildren are: Macy and Mack Morgan, Jack Thomas and Reid Ruark; Noah, Lukas and Hayes Edwards; Shaw and Kathleen Coggin; Natalie and Leyton Parker; Amelia Hembree; Austin Dotson, Lauren Hicks and Jordyn Morgan; Reagan Morgan and Morgan Kirkley. Survivors also include Kathryn Griffin Morgan, Harold Schmidt and many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place Wednesday, Dec. 28, from 5-7 p.m. at J.C. Harwell Funeral Home in Covington. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, at Covington First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Doug Gilreath and the Rev. Jan McCoy officiating. A graveside service for the family will follow at Starrsville United Methodist Church.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Covington First United Methodist Church in memory of Barbara Davis Morgan.
J.C. Harwell and Son Funeral Home, 2157 East St. SE, Covington, is in charge of the arrangements. A guest book may be signed online at www.harwellfuneralhome.com.
J.C. Harwell and Son Funeral Home, Covington, Ga.