1980s
Joni Cash Owens Byrd (’84) of Toccoa, Ga., died Dec. 10, 2013. She was 50. Born in Stephens County, she was a cum laude graduate of Piedmont College and worked for the Bank of Toccoa and Dempster Equipment before becoming a Realtor with Century 21 and Remax. She later worked with the Stephens County School System in the Nutrition Department. Survivors include her husband, Jeff Byrd (’87), and son, Houston Owens of Toccoa.
2010s
Kathleen Virginia Vinson Strickland (’12) of Commerce, Ga., died April 4, 2014. She was 45. Originally from Atlanta, she was a veteran of the U.S. Army and a member of the American Legion. At Piedmont, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama education.
Friends Milda K. Kranats, 94, of Polson, Mont., formerly of Demorest, died Dec. 22, 2013. Born in Riga, Latvia, where she worked as a nurse, she was married to Julius Kranats, a mounted policeman. In 1945 the couple and their son, John, fled to Augsburg, Germany, to escape communism. They lived in a Displaced Persons Camp for four years, where John died and another son, I.J. Kranats was born. In 1946, they immigrated to the U.S., settling near Stone Mountain and then moving to Demorest, where Julius, who died in 1983, operated the Piedmont College dairy farm. Through the late 1950s and ’60s, Milda worked as a pediatric nurse at Habersham County Hospital and later worked as a school nurse at Piedmont College until her retirement. Dr. Jodie Lee Burton, 71, of Cornelia, Ga., died Jan. 16, 2014. Dr. Burton was a graduate of Marietta High School and North Georgia College. He served as an officer on active duty with the United States Army and with the United States Reserve for eight years, with a final rank of captain. He later earned a master’s degree in education, specialist degree in social science, and doctorate in social science education from the University of Georgia. From 1971 to 1978 he taught history and education at Piedmont and was named chair of the Division of Education in 1972. In 1978, Dr. Burton left Piedmont College to become dean of continuing education at BrewtonParker College and later was named associate dean of the college. In 1983, he returned to Habersham County to teach at the Georgia Industrial Institute before returning to Piedmont College as the registrar. In 1989, Dr. Burton became
the registrar at Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C., until his retirement in 2003. Survivors include his wife of more than 40 years, Shirley Hamby Burton (’61) of Cornelia; son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Jennifer Burton of Clarkesville; and sister, Peggy Morris Brock of Alto. Martha Gail Anderson, 73, of Andrews, N.C., died Dec. 11, 2013. A basketball star with the Andrews Wildcats, she was a 1962 graduate of Western Carolina University, where she majored in physical education. After completing a master’s degree in education, she taught in high schools in Stanley, Haywood, and Macon counties, and later at Piedmont College and Brevard College, coaching basketball and tennis. Bonnie Louise Prickett Sheridan, (attended ’34) of Wylie, Texas, died Dec. 22, 2013. She was 100. Born in Commerce, Ga., she was married for 68 years to Mark M Sheridan, Jr., who died in 2006. Virginia Nelson Walker (attended ’41) of Atlanta, Ga., died Oct. 31, 2013. She was 90. Born in Nelson, she was the widow of Roy Stakeley Walker Jr. and was a deacon at Wieuca Road Baptist Church. Imogene “Gene” Irvin Batson (attended 1947) of Demorest, Ga., died Feb. 25, 2014. She was 85. Born in Demorest, she was the widow of Charles T. Batson. She was a member of Demorest Baptist Church and a former co-owner of Lane’s Food Store.
SPRING 2014
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