Eunice Lastinger Mixon, 87, of Tifton passed away Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22, 2018, at Cypress Pond Assisted Living. Her funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, December 2, 2018, in the Chapel of Tifton's First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Wayne Roe officiating. Dr. Steve Rigdon and James Lastinger will give eulogies. She will be laid to rest at the Memorial Gardens in Tifton, with the Rev. John Hughes officiating. The family will receive friends Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the First Baptist Church Social Hall.
Pallbearers will be former students, Frank Sauls Jr., Carol Coarsey, Buck Rigdon, Phil Perlis, Mike Beaumont, Larry Mims, Glenn P. Willis, Roy Rankin, Michael Moore, David Hilliard, and Jim Lever. Honorary pallbearers will also be former students, Elaine Joiner, Lynnette Bragg, Donna Hellwig Rocker, Carol Southerland Williams, Anna Jensen, Conner Tift Rankin, Eileen Brogdon, Jerolyn Culpepper, Melissa Hughes, Beth Flowers Lewis, Teresa Coarsey, Sandra Sumner Kemp, Diann Z. Donaldson and Cheryl Koehler.
Known affectionately throughout the state as “Miss Eunice”, she was born November 1, 1931, in Tifton. She was the daughter of Robert and Carrie Lastinger. She married Albert Mixon in 1948 and was a devoted farmer’s wife until his death. After having children, she attended college at ABAC, Norman Park Junior College, and Valdosta State College, and subsequently obtained master’s and specialist degrees from the University of Georgia. For 30 years, she taught biology, chemistry, physics, and history in the Tift County school system and at ABAC.
After becoming a grandmother, Miss Eunice became involved in local and state politics. She served as Governor George Busbee’s Tift County campaign chair in 1974, and thereafter worked on campaigns of Governors Joe Frank Harris, Zell Miller, and Roy Barnes, Senators Sam Nunn and Max Cleland, Representatives Charlie Hatcher and Roy Rowland, Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, and Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. She hosted countless parties at her home for political candidates, served as a delegate at the 1988 and 1992 Democratic National Convention, and was referred to by Governor Sonny Perdue as “my favorite Democrat.” She served as doorkeeper at the State Senate for 12 years.
She has served on the State Elections Board, the Georgia Student Finance Commission, serving as their first chair and helping develop the HOPE scholarship, the Georgia Civil War Commission, the State Heritage Trust Commission, the Library Board, and the Investigative Panel of the Disciplinary Board for the State Bar for Georgia. She has been a member of the Tift County Foundaion of Excellence in Education, the Camellia Garden Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Georgia AARP Board, the Tallahassee Daughters of the American Revolution, the Georgia Historical Society, the Atlanta History Center, and the Tift County Chamber of Commerce.
Miss Eunice had been named Tift County Teacher of the Year, ABAC Distinguished Alumnus, One of 25 Women for the 21st Century by the Georgia Legislation, and One of the 40 Most Infuential South Georgians by a local media group. She has received the Athena award, Liberty Bell award, Larry O’Brian award, Outstanding Georgia Citizen award, Historic Preservation Woman of the Year award, Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame award, Big Peach designation, Alzheimer’s Foundation People’s Choice award, George A. Wright Memorial award, and Distinguished Older Georgian award. In 2007 a scholarship was established at ABAC in her honor, recognizing 23 years of service on the Georgia Student Finance Commission. In 2010 she received the Eunice L. Mixon award, established by the State Bar of Georgia to annually recognize a non-lawyer Georgian for contribution to the law and Georgia courts. At 84 she was roasted by the local YMCA in honor of her contributions to her local community, and at 85 she served with her granddog Gizzy as Grand Marshals in Tifton’s Christmas parade.
Miss Eunice is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Johnny and Patsy Mixon and Jimmy and Debbie Mixon; four grandchildren, Melody (Joe) Tawzer, Jim (Jacie) Mixon, Clay (Amanda) Mixon, and Kerri (Josh) McAfee; two great granddaughters, Amber (Will) Arnold and Katelyn Tawzer; and one brother, James (Barbara) Lastinger; and one sister-in-law, Mae Lastinger.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Albert Mixon, and a brother, Bob Lastinger.
Memorial gifts may be made to the ABAC Eunice Lastinger Mixon Scholarship fund, 2802 Moore Highway, Tifton, GA 31793, or First Baptist Church of Tifton’s Backpack Blessings, 404 Love Avenue, Tifton, GA 31794.