Ralph Sims, 89, of Ocilla, Georgia died Saturday, May 2, 2009, at his home.
Funeral services will be held at 4 P.M. Monday, May 4, at Ocilla Baptist Church with the Rev. Robert Couey and the Rev. Gerald Purvis officiating. Interment will follow in Ocilla Cemetery. Visitation will be held 7-9 Sunday evening at the funeral home in Ocilla.
Mr. Sims was born November 11, 1919 in Mystic, Georgia to the late Joseph Monroe Sims, Sr. and Lillie Royal Sims. Mr. Sims was a 1937 graduate of Irwin County High School at Mystic and attended Statesboro Business College. He was a former banker retiring from the Bank of Ocilla in 1982. With his brother Monroe, Mr. Sims also was a former co-owner and operator of Economy Auto and Sims Furniture in Ocilla and Armor and Co. in Tifton, GA. He served in the United States Navy during World War II in Guam and the South Pacific. He was ordained as a deacon by Mystic Baptist Church and was a member of Ocilla Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife, Lena D. Sims of Ocilla, GA; daughter and son-in-law, Kim and David Bridges of Tifton; grandchildren, Morgan Bridges, Auburn, AL, Rees and Lindsay Bridges of Birmingham, AL, Stuart Sims, Fort Valley, GA and Cliff and Sharon Sims, Tifton, GA., and sister, Peggy Jean Peavey of Crossland, GA. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by a son, Keith Sims, and 2 brothers, Monroe Sims and Edgar Sims and a sister, Wylene S. Ware.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Ocilla Cemetery Fund, Hospice or the Ocilla Baptist Church Berevement Fund.