Helen Louise Cauthen Sumner, 90, of Tifton passed away Saturday, July 29, 2023, at her residence. Her funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 2, 2023, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals with the Rev. Ronnie Howell officiating. Mrs. Sumner will be laid to rest at Tift Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Employees of Cooksey Steel Company in Tifton will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be caregivers and the staff of Hospice of Tift Area.
Born April 13, 1933 in Tifton, Mrs. Sumner was the daughter of the late Claude William Cauthen and Mary Olivia Heath Cauthen. She was also preceded in death by her husband, A.W. Sumner, and one sister and two brothers-in-law, Inez and Charles McCranie and Harold Beard. She graduated from Tift County High School, and before retiring, she was the bookkeeper at Cooksey Steel Company in Tifton. She had also worked as a bookkeeper for R.E. Carmichael and the Tifton Gazette.
Mrs. Sumner is survived by two daughters, Connie Sumner and Sonya Sumner, both of Tifton; two sisters and one brother-in-law, Ruth Beard of Tifton and Nell and Allen Howell of
Taylors, South Carolina; and many nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Flowers will be accepted or memorial gifts may be made to Hospice of Tift Area, 618 Central Avenue North, Tifton, GA 31794.