Cleo Jane Webb Pitts

Lenoir City, Tennessee – Cleo Jane Pitts, 89, of Jacksonville, Florida passed away peacefully on Sunday, August 16, 2020 after a brief illness at the Morning Pointe Lantern Senior Care facility in Lenoir City, Tennessee.

Cleo was born December 4, 1930, in Athens, Georgia, the daughter of the late Joseph Elliot Webb and Temperance Rebecca Harris. She is a 1947 Athens High School graduate followed by business school in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is predeceased by her loving husband James Henry Pitts, Jr. of Cordele, Georgia; a brother Joseph E. Webb, Jr., and sisters Temperance Rebecca Thompson and Ola J. Webb.

Left to cherish her precious memories include her daughter Juanita Rebecca Rankin, sons Henry Alan Pitts and John Russell Pitts, her three brothers John J. Webb, Virgil H. Webb, and Charles E. Webb; six grandchildren, eleven great- grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.

Following the conclusion of World War II, a very handsome young man from Cordele, Georgia was attending the University of Georgia under the GI Bill where in 1947, he met a young high school graduate, the absolute stunning beauty, Cleo Jane Webb. They were married December 21, 1948 in Athens, Georgia, thus beginning a love affair that lasted a lifetime. After their marriage and Jim had graduated UGA Law School, they moved to Macon, Georgia and later to Tifton, Georgia where their sons Henry Alan and John Russell were born. They were transferred to Waycross, Georgia with her husband’s new position with State Farm Auto Insurance Company where their daughter, Juanita Rebecca was born. The family next transferred to Jacksonville, Florida, Macon, Georgia, and again to Jacksonville, Florida as her husband rose through the State Farm Auto Division ranks. They retired and remained in Jacksonville, Florida until her husband’s passing in 2001. Mr. and Mrs. Pitts were married for 53 years.

Cleo’s lifetime passion was being with and taking care of her family. Her relatives and friends will remember that she was always ready for the next great adventure, not only her RV travels with her husband Jim, but countless adventures with grandchildren and great grandchildren. She enjoyed high school basketball, tennis matches with her cousins in Monroe, Georgia, playing golf with her husband and many friends, countless bridge tournaments, and later attending UGA Basketball games with her brother. Cleo was our family matriarch, the mother who never sought fame or fortune, but whose focus was always her dedication to preserving family, both hers and her husband’s. She will be sorely missed by family and a host of friends.

A private celebration of her life will be held in Athens, Georgia and she will be interred with her husband at the Arlington Memorial Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida.

For those who would like to recognize her life in a more tangible way, a contribution in her name, to the Morning Pointe Foundation (http://www.morningpointefoundation.com), a non-profit organization that funds clinical educational scholarships to advance the care of seniors is suggested.

Condolences may be offered online to the family at www.BernsteinFuneralHome.com.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of local arrangements.