Eddie Starnes

Mr. Starnes and his wife, Dr. Jo Anne Starnes, a Cedartown native, and his oldest son, Sam, moved to Cedartown in 1968 when he become an administrator for the Polk School District. Their second child, Dan, was born in 1974. Mr. Starnes served at Benedict and Cedar Lake schools before becoming the founding principal of Westside when it opened in 1974. He retired in 1992. He enjoyed gardening, planting large plots of vegetables on family property on Cave Spring Road, and walking in the woods with his dogs, which numbered as many as six. He often rescued abandoned puppies on country roads and gave them away.

Born in Atlanta, the ninth of nine children, he lived his early life in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., and in Savannah, Hapeville, and Columbus, Ga., where he graduated from high school. A basketball star for the Columbus High School Blue Devils, he went on to play college basketball for Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga., and Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. He graduated from Oglethorpe in 1958, and was later inducted into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame. He also played college baseball and tennis. In Cedartown, he played competitively in local basketball recreation leagues until his mid forties, and also played a lot of tennis and golf at Cherokee Country Club.

During high school and college, Mr. Starnes and his late brother Grady, a major influence in his life, traveled annually to Western Massachusetts to work at Eastover, a summer resort. He recalled those trips fondly throughout his life.

After graduating from college, Mr. Starnes served in the U.S. Marines Corps, receiving an honorable discharge in 1960. He later earned graduate degrees from West Georgia College.

Mr. Starnes was an avid reader, enjoying a wide range of fiction and nonfiction. He also was a lifelong Democrat and belonged to the Polk County Democratic Committee.

He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Cedartown.

He met his wife Jo Anne when they were first-year teachers at Gordon High School in Decatur, east of Atlanta. They celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on July 22. Jo Anne taught English for 36 years at Georgia Highlands College in Rome, formerly known as Floyd College.

He is survived by Jo Anne, who now lives in Birmingham, where he had lived for the past year, and his sons, Sam of Haddon Township, N.J., and Dan, of Birmingham. He also is survived by two grandchildren, Lucas William Starnes, of Birmingham, and Summer Lucille Starnes of Haddon Township, N.J.; and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by six brothers and two sisters.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the First United Methodist Church of Cedartown, 201 Wissahickon Ave., Cedartown, GA 30125, or the Alzheimer’s Association.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the First United Methodist Church in Cedartown. The family will receive friends at the church from 10 a.m. until the hour of the memorial service.

Ridout’s Valley Chapel in Homewood, Ala., is assisting with the funeral arrangements.