Mr. E. Ross Gatlin, Jr.

GATLIN, Jr., Edgar Ross October 6, 1924 – June 5, 2018 E. Ross Gatlin, Jr. passed away peacefully at Phoebe Americus Hospital in Americus, Georgia on June 5, 2018. Ross was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the third and youngest child of Ada Myers Gatlin Guinn and E. Ross Gatlin Sr. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Gulfport, graduating from Gulfport High School in 1942. He enrolled briefly in Perkinston Junior College (now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College), where he played on the football team. Ross volunteered to enter the service in 1943, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He trained to become a bomber pilot, piloting and co-piloting B-24 and B-25 bombers that were to be assigned to the European Theater. However, by the end of his training period, the European sector needed fewer bomber pilots. As a result, he was then trained to fly B-29 bombers. He was finally assigned to the Pacific Theater in 1945. One of his training stops was Turner Air Field (later Turner Air Force Base) in Albany, Georgia, where he met his future bride, Isabelle Smith. They were married in early 1945 just prior to him leaving for the Pacific. He was stationed in the Philippines and on Tinian Island. When World War II ended in 1945 he returned to the States. He later retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a Major. He and his wife Isabelle enrolled at the University of Georgia, where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in Forestry. At UGA he was the editor of his Forestry School newsletter, and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society established to recognize and encourage superior scholarship. He and Isabelle both graduated from UGA, and Ross found a forestry job in Jackson, Mississippi. They spent a short time in Jackson before moving to Albany, Georgia, where he joined Isabelle’s father’s (Charles H. Smith, Jr.) real estate company. In 1955 a new opportunity was presented when a group of Albany businessmen asked him to open and manage a new savings & loan association in Albany, Home Federal Savings & Loan Association (which later became Georgia Federal). Ross served as President of Home Federal for 29 years. Upon the acquisition of Home Federal by Georgia Federal, Ross was transferred to Atlanta where Georgia Federal was headquartered, and he served as manager of all Georgia Federal branches in the Atlanta metro area. He and Isabelle retired in 1986, and moved to Florida, where they lived in both Leesburg, Fl, Lady Lake, FL and Panama City Beach, FL. Later, he and Isabelle returned to Albany, where they lived for a number of years, until most recently, when they moved to Magnolia Manor, a retirement home in Americus, Georgia. During his career he was honored by his peers to serve as President of the Georgia Savings and Loan League 1974-75. Ross completed the Graduate School of Savings and Loan at the University of Indiana. He was a senior residential appraiser, a designation of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers, and a long-time member of the Albany Kiwanis Club. He was an Elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, and taught Sunday School. He and Isabelle later became members of the Porterfield United Methodist Church in Albany, and he sang in the choir. Ross was an avid fisherman and golfer. He was widely respected and loved by friends, customers and employees. He was preceded in death by his mother, Ada Gatlin Guinn, his father E. Ross Gatlin Sr., and two sisters, Myrl Needham and Lou Campbell. He is survived by his wife of 73 Years, Isabelle, and three children, Charlie Gatlin (Cathy), Peggy Gatlin Rice (Tom) and Cindy Gatlin Edwards (Michael), nine grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at Kimbrell-Stern Funeral Home on Dawson Road, Albany, with visitation beginning at 1 PM prior to the funeral. A private internment with immediate family will be at Crown Hill Cemetery, Albany. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Porterfield United Methodist Church, Albany, Georgia.

Mr. E. Ross Gatlin, Jr.

October 6, 1924 - June 5, 2018