Funeral services will be held Sunday, June 9th, 2024 at 3:00 PM in Edgewood Hall at Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, Columbus with a private family entombment in Parkhill Cemetery with Dr. Jimmy Elder officiating. The family will receive friends on Sunday beginning at 2:00 PM at the funeral home.
Jeanette was born August 14th, 1926 in Ashburn, Georgia to James Allen Coleman, Sr. and Lilly Missouri Carter Coleman. After her father raised seven children with his first wife, Lunar Wilbanks, he married Jeanette’s mother, Lilly Missouri, in 1919. Together they raised an additional seven children and later moved to a farm outside of Milner, Georgia where her father worked as a tenant farmer.
Jeanette had a rather harrowing childhood. When she was eight years old, her family was working to burn off a cornfield when she witnessed her three year old sister's dress catch fire. She watched as her father ran and jumped into a nearby creek to try and save her. Unfortunately, her sister passed away a few days later. The following Christmas Eve at age nine, her father passed away in the Lamar County Courthouse, while she and her younger brother waited outside in the wagon. They were driven back home in a police car, which was her first automobile ride in her life. Right before her tenth birthday, her mother died from Typhoid Fever at the age of 36. Orphaned, her brothers and sisters were scattered, some taken in by family members, others taken to the Georgia Baptist Children's Home in Hapeville, Georgia.
Jeanette who was living with an aunt, decided she wanted to be with her sisters and brothers at the Children's Home. While at the Georgia Baptist Children's Home, a local Baptist church sponsored her and provided her with clothing. Jeanette considered this a blessing, as she was taken care of during the Great Depression years, when others were not. She remained at the Georgia Baptist Children's Home until her graduation from Hapeville High School. From 1945 to 1946, Jeanette attended Bessie Tift College in Forsyth, Georgia, where she majored in business. After college, she met her husband Jordan Seaton Cauthen while attending church and they were married on June 4th, 1947 in Barnesville, Georgia. They remained married until his death in 2012.
After her husband returned from serving in the Army during the Korean War, they moved to Columbus where Seaton took a job with Curtis 1000 as a sales representative. Jeanette worked for McDaniel and Associates for many years, doing bookkeeping and payroll for several small businesses. She was very active in her children’s schools, serving as Vice – President and President of the Parent-Teacher Association at Beallwood Elementary and later Secretary of the Muscogee County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations. After retiring, Jeanette started her second career as a volunteer. She was very active, working for several years at Wynnton Elementary School as a teacher’s aid, volunteering for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, and later with the Columbus Sports Council until 2006. She also volunteered with The River Center, where she received an award for dedicating over 1500 hours of service and the American Red Cross Disaster Services, which took her to many different disaster areas following hurricanes, fires, and floods in the U.S. and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and Guam. Following 9/11, she was a Red Cross volunteer in New York City, New York. She was awarded the West Central Georgia Chapter Volunteer of the Year in 2004, and was inducted into the West Central Georgia Chapter Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2012.
A member of the First Baptist Church for over 70 years, Jeanette worked many years with the preschool age children in the nursery. In 1990, she retired as Preschool Director after 35 years of ministry at First Baptist, constantly providing childcare so that parents could attend meetings, worship and Bible study. She was a member of the Joy Sunday School Class and Young in Heart.
She loved to travel, as the family enjoyed camping in a small pop-up camper, taking trips to the Great Smokey Mountains, Grand Canyon, short weekend trips to state parks in Georgia and Alabama, and even visiting Disney World when it first opened. "Big Mama", to her grandchildren, always took a summer trip with her grandkids, where she traveled to Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Greece with her grandsons and granddaughter as they performed in vocal and dance ensembles. Children and adults on the trip always called her "Big Mama". She enjoyed going with the groups from First Baptist on trips to Europe, and the yearly Young in Heart trips. She spent her 90th Birthday in St. Petersburgh Russia, traveling with her daughter and sister.
She is preceded in death by her husband Jordan Seaton Cauthen, her son-in-law, Bill Thompson, her grandson, Jarrod Lane Cauthen, her seven brothers, Roy, Joseph, Cornal, Howell, Carl, Allen, and Travis, and her five sisters, Nola May, Willie Aline, Mildred, Betty, and Helen Earline.
She is survived by her daughters, Kathy Barfoot (Sandy) of Pfafftown, North Carolina and Paula Thompson of Columbus, Georgia. A son Warren Cauthen (Syrie) of Columbus, Georgia. A sister, Edna Earline Smith of Arizona. Her grandchildren, Will Thompson (Brooke), Dianne Olmos (Pete), Lisa Ames (Zach), Scott Barfoot (Sonja), Rebekah Brown (Derek), Curtis Cauthen and Landon Cauthen. "Big Mama" had twelve great-grandchildren, Savannah, Carolina, Levi, Lilyanne, Charlotte, Rachel, Mason, Taylor, Jordan, Morgan, Abram, and William.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Red Cross West Central Georgia Chapter, 6501 Veterans Pkwy #3B, Columbus, Georgia 31909 or to The First Baptist Church of Columbus nursery renovations and upgrades.
