Mrs. Mattie Lee Smallwood, 83, of Fitzgerald, died Friday, March 13, 2009 at Palemon Gaskins Nursing Home in Ocilla.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM. Monday, March 16, 2009 at the Paulk Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. Michael L. Ruffin officiating. Interment will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Visitation will be held 7-9 Sunday evening at the funeral home.
Mrs. Smallwood was born July 12, 1925 in Ben Hill County to the late George W. and Lillie Hayes Young. She moved to Fitzgerald in 1978 from Jacksonville, Florida. Mrs. Smallwood was a homemaker and former co-owner of the Chateau Beauty Shop, Smallwood’s Game Room, Smallwood’s Meat Market, South Central Stock Yard, Mattie’ Sandwich Shop and Smallwood’s Clothing Store. She was a member of the First Baptist Church.
She is survived by her son, Chief William Smallwood, Jr., of Fitzgerald; daughter & son-in-law, Lisa & Donnie Catrabone of Statesboro; grandchildren, Ashley Smallwood, Wesley Smallwood and Bailey Catrabone and a sister, Gladys Dorminy of Fitzgerald, as well as several nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, William M. “Buck” Smallwood, Sr., three sisters, Lucille Holland, Ethel Young and Thelma Parker and a brother, Roscoe Young.