Clifford S. Campbell Jr.

A celebration of the life of Clifford S. Campbell, Jr., will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, December 29, 2013, at the First United Methodist Church of Thomasville. The family will greet friends in the fellowship hall after the service. Mr. Campbell died peacefully surrounded by family on Thursday, December 26, 2013, after a brief illness. Born August 28, 1928, in Covington, Georgia, he was the son of Clifford S. Campbell and Emily Leonard Campbell. Later in life, his father married Minnie, who was a loving stepmother. Mr. Campbell attended Emory University at Oxford and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1950. At Georgia, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. In 1966, he graduated from the Program for Management Development at Harvard University. He was later initiated into the Gridiron Secret Society at the University of Georgia. Mr. Campbell joined the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He always laughed that his duty was playing golf on the base team all over the United States as a member of a bomber crew made up of the golf team that flew training missions to tournaments. He married Frances Sinback in July of 1954, and they had two children, William Clay Campbell and Richard Stewart Campbell, all of whom survive. After starting his banking career in Albany and Atlanta, he was transferred to Thomasville in 1968 as President of the newly acquired C&S Bank of Thomas County, a position he held until his retirement in 1989. He hired and trained many young men and women at C&S and was proud of every one of them. He could practically give a life and work history for each of them. After retirement, he continued to be active, working for the American Bankers Association and helping with the organization of Thomasville National Bank, serving as its first board chairman. Mr. Campbell loved banking, the Georgia Bulldogs, playing golf and hunting, but he especially loved Thomasville. He was named the community’s Man of the Year in 1973 and served as president of many organizations, including the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce, Thomasville YMCA and Thomasville Rotary Club. He was elected to the Thomasville City School Board in 1974 and served a term as its chairman. For 38 years, he served on boards of trustees of the Archbold healthcare system, including terms as chairman of the Archbold Memorial Hospital and Archbold Medical Center boards of trustees. Along with Pat Fenlon, Mr. Campbell was co-founder of the Archbold Classic Golf Tournament, which has raised more than $1.5 million for health career scholarships for local students. He served as president of Georgia Bankers Association and the University of Georgia Alumni Association. There were very few organizations that asked that he did not serve enthusiastically. In his retirement, he was a member of the ROMEOs, a special group of friends who met each Wednesday for lunch and a martini. He was a heck of a gentleman. Above all, he loved his family, his wife, his children, his daughters in law, Frances and Lori, and all of his grandchildren, William Clay Campbell, Jr. and Amy, Henry Arnall Campbell and Rainey, Frances Catherine (Catie) Campbell, Emma Claire Campbell, and Lilly Kate Campbell. He was preceded in death by a sister, Carolyn Campbell. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Archbold Foundation, the Thomas County Food Bank or the Thomasville First United Methodist Church. Guest may sign the online register at www.allenfh.com .