Amos Tift Fletcher, Sr., 80, of Irwin County, Georgia, died Monday, April 6, 2015, at his residence.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Pinetta Baptist Church in Irwin County, with the Rev. Dr. Danny V. Ray, the Rev. Rex Johnson and the Rev. Mathew Baker officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends Wednesday morning, from 9:30 AM until the service hour.
Mr. Fletcher was born August 22, 1934, in Jake’s Bay in the Pinetta Community of Irwin County, Georgia. He was the son of Artie Tift and Jane Sutton Fletcher and the brother of Doris Staten, Virginia Cox, Paul Fletcher, and Sutton Fletcher, all whom preceded him in death.
He graduated from Irwin County High School in 1951. Since students only went to school eleven years, they had to wait until the next year to get their diploma with the next year’s graduating class. He was President of the FFA and strived to live their motto: “Learning to do; Doing to Learn; Earning to Live; Living to Serve.” Mr. Fletcher was a lifetime farmer and one of his greatest pleasures was sharing the products of his farm.
On May 24, 1964, Amos and Lois Mangham Fletcher were married in the home that they would live in for their entire married life. They would have celebrated their 52nd anniversary this year. On their 1st Christmas as newlyweds, Lois gave Amos a journal for him to record daily events. From that day forward, for more than fifty years, Amos recorded the events that took place each day. There is a wealth of history in those many journals- births, deaths, rainfall, weather conditions, world and local events, etc.
Amos and Lois Fletcher were instrumental in establishing Irwin Academy, a private school in Mystic, Georgia. The first meeting of what was to become the Board of Trustees was held in their home, and “Miss” Lois taught there until the doors of the school were closed for good.
Mr. Fletcher is survived by his wife and their children: Judith and Brian Gibson of Tifton and Tift Fletcher of Ocilla. He also leaves behind his grandchildren: Ryan and Misty Gibson, Dusty and Cari Gibson, Daniel Gibson, Melissa Gibson, and Coleman Fletcher.
The family suggests those desiring to send memorials may mail them to Hospice of Tift Area, 618 North Central Avenue Tifton, Georgia, 31794 or The Pinetta Cemetery Fund, c/o Betty Ruth Sumner, 1646 Tifton Highway, Ocilla, Georgia, 31774.