Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Joe and Georgiana Wesson

A few weeks after celebrating their 64th marriage anniversary, constant companions Joe Thomas and Georgiana Wesson went to be with their heavenly father.

Georgiana, 86, died May 17, 2007, and Joe, 88, died on Sunday, May 20, 2007. Both had been at the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

Joe was born on his familys farm in Nevada County. Georgiana was born in Grayson County, Texas.

Theirs was an amazing love story that began one day when Joe, who worked as a lineman for Southwestern Bell in Hope, heard Georgianas voice over the phone and fell in love with it. She worked

as a switchboard operator for the company in Durant, Okla.

Joe took the jitney across the state line and had a mutual friend introduce him to Georgiana. They later married in Durant.

Joe worked for the telephone company for 32 years and Georgiana worked for 34.

In an agreement with his siblings, Joe bought his familys farm in Nevada County in the early 1960s. There, the couple raised cattle and lived lives of generosity, stewardship and conservation. Georgiana worked as a ward clerk at the hospital in Prescott and also volunteered at Prescott schools and at the Hillcrest Rehabilitation Center.

Both were active members of the Calvary Baptist Church in Hope.

The Wessons are survived by their daughter Lenna Jane and son-in-law Edward Baxter; grandchildren Keri and Adam Kinsey; great-grandchildren Stuart and Elaine Kinsey; Betty Denny, Joes sister of Ada, Okla.; and numerous nieces and nephews. They were preceded in death by grandson Stuart Baxter.

Visitation for the Wessons was from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

on Wednesday, May 23, at Herndon-Pharr Funeral Home in Hope. The funeral was at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, at Calvary Baptist Church, with internment to follow at Memory Garden Cemetery.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Arkansas Baptist Childrens Home or Calvary Baptist Church.