James Wendell Jimmy Keyton Jr.
A memorial service for James Wendell Jimmy Keyton, Jr., 75, of Thomasville, is at 3 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Dan Spencer officiating. He was born on March 10, 1932 in Thomasville, GA. He was the son of the late James Wendell and Maude Reddin Keyton. He graduated from Thomasville High School in 1950. While a student there, he was active in a number of organizations and participated in sports. He played football, basketball and track, serving as captain of the Thomasville Bulldog football team his senior year. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and a low handicap golfer, a sport he enjoyed all of his life. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1955 with a degree in Industrial Management. On September 3, 1954 he married the former Katherine Sevier Hanna of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who precedes him in death. He and his wife had been residents of Thomasville since 1963, having lived in Moultrie for seven years immediately after his graduation from college. During his time in Moultrie Jimmy was very active in civic affairs and served in many different organizations. He was President, Moultrie Chamber of Commerce; President, Moultrie Kiwanis Club and President, United Givers of Colquitt County. He served on the boards of the Moultrie Jaycees, the Emergency Relief Organization, The American Red Cross, the Moultrie YMCA, the Colquitt County Industrial Development Committee, the Moultrie City Planning Commission and the Appeals and Adjustment Board of the City of Moultrie. After returning to Thomasville in 1963, he devoted the majority of his time to the development of his businesses. He served as the president of Thomasville Ice & Mfg. Co., which operated a refrigerated warehouse business, furniture and appliance business and was a fuel oil distributor. He was also president of Colquitt Ice Company, Moultrie and West End Ice Company, Quitman. In addition to owning and operating these various businesses, Jimmy served as Judge of the Small Claims Court of Thomas County, a position appointed by Governor Carl Sanders, with reappointments from succeeding governors until 1982 when he resigned this position and closed his business to go into ministry full time. In 1976 Jimmy founded Lifeline Ministries, Inc., a Christian ministry devoted to missions and evangelism both here and in Mexico. As president of Lifeline Ministries he administered numerous ministries under the umbrella of Lifeline. These ministries included 2 Christian radio stations in Thomasville and Albany; scholarships for deserving Mexican pastors at Asbury Theological Seminary; revivals and seminars; a distribution ministry, which gives away clothing and other items; orphanage work; mission teams both building and evangelistic; and missionary support for many individuals working in the foreign mission field. He wrote and published two books entitled ?The Master Plan?, which has been used for Bible study and devotionals by those connected with Lifeline Ministries, and ?Thank You Lord?. For twenty-five years he and his wife held a weekly Bible study in their home. Jimmy was a very active layman in the United Methodist Church for over thirty years, serving in many different capacities. He served as a Sunday School teacher, as a member of the Council on Ministries, and as a member of the Administrative Board. He also served as a lay leader in his church, and as chairman of the Evangelism committee, chairman of the Finance committee, chairman of the Stewardship committee, and chairman of the Worship committee. He preached many revivals and led seminars and workshops both here and in the Methodist Church of Mexico. He served on the board of directors of the South Georgia Conference United Methodist Men, also serving as director of involvement on this board. He served on the board of directors of Vashti Educational Center, both on the executive committee and the personnel committees of this facility. In Thomasville he served on the board of the Salvation Army and on the board of the Open Door Adoption Agency. He was a member of the Volunteers in Mission committee and on the overseas committee of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was an associate member of the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists and preached many revivals and coordinated Lay Witness teams. He led numerous mission teams, both in this country and in Haiti, in St. Vincent in the West Indies and in many locations throughout Mexico. He led many evangelistic teams to Mexico, and sent work teams to build approximately 90 small churches in poverty areas where small congregations were meeting outside or in open structures. Part of this ministry to Mexico was the establishment of feeding stations at many of these churches where approximately 5, 000 children per day are fed a hot, nutritious meal. Jimmy was deeply involved in the ministry of Lifeline until the end of his life both actively and in an advisory capacity. In the years after his health prevented him from going into the mission field, Jimmy started writing a monthly ?Encouraging Words? letter which was emailed to 25, 000 persons worldwide. He helped initiate a ?shoebox ministry? which involved churches in packing shoeboxes of gifts to be delivered to children in poverty in Mexico each Christmas, and started a mission of digging water wells in areas of Mexico without a source of clean water. In his later years, he returned to the First Baptist Church of Thomasville, Georgia, where he had been a member for the first twenty-five years of his life. Survivors include son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Barbara Keyton of Thomasville; daughter, Kay Keyton Attaway of Lawrenceville; daughters and sons-in-law, Ginger and Gordy Palmer of Thomasville and Sandra and Logan Whalen of Norman, Oklahoma; grandchildren, Jason Keyton and wife, Holly, Jarrett Keyton, Jennifer Keyton, Hanna Keyton, Erica Palmer, Brian Palmer, Reynolds Whalen, Jonathan Whalen, Katherine Whalen, Langdon Attaway and Meredith Attaway; great-grandchildren, Haley Keyton, Harrison Keyton and Jacey Keyton. He was also survived by his fiance, Gloria Anne Clark. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to Lifeline Ministries, P.O. Box 90, Thomasville, GA. 31799. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Monday from 6-8 p.m. Visitors may sign the online guest register at www.allenfh.com .
ALLEN & ALLEN FUNERAL HOME
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of James W. Keyton Jr., please visit our flower store.
A memorial service for James Wendell Jimmy Keyton, Jr., 75, of Thomasville, is at 3 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at First Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Dan Spencer officiating. He was born on March 10, 1932 in Thomasville, GA. He was the son of the late James Wendell and Maude Reddin Keyton. He graduated from Thomasville High School in 1950. While a student there, he was active in a number of organizations and participated in sports. He played football, basketball and track, serving as captain of the Thomasville Bulldog football team his senior year. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and a low handicap golfer, a sport he enjoyed all of his life. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1955 with a degree in Industrial Management. On September 3, 1954 he married the former Katherine Sevier Hanna of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who precedes him in death. He and his wife had been residents of Thomasville since 1963, having lived in Moultrie for seven years immediately after his graduation from college. During his time in Moultrie Jimmy was very active in civic affairs and served in many different organizations. He was President, Moultrie Chamber of Commerce; President, Moultrie Kiwanis Club and President, United Givers of Colquitt County. He served on the boards of the Moultrie Jaycees, the Emergency Relief Organization, The American Red Cross, the Moultrie YMCA, the Colquitt County Industrial Development Committee, the Moultrie City Planning Commission and the Appeals and Adjustment Board of the City of Moultrie. After returning to Thomasville in 1963, he devoted the majority of his time to the development of his businesses. He served as the president of Thomasville Ice & Mfg. Co., which operated a refrigerated warehouse business, furniture and appliance business and was a fuel oil distributor. He was also president of Colquitt Ice Company, Moultrie and West End Ice Company, Quitman. In addition to owning and operating these various businesses, Jimmy served as Judge of the Small Claims Court of Thomas County, a position appointed by Governor Carl Sanders, with reappointments from succeeding governors until 1982 when he resigned this position and closed his business to go into ministry full time. In 1976 Jimmy founded Lifeline Ministries, Inc., a Christian ministry devoted to missions and evangelism both here and in Mexico. As president of Lifeline Ministries he administered numerous ministries under the umbrella of Lifeline. These ministries included 2 Christian radio stations in Thomasville and Albany; scholarships for deserving Mexican pastors at Asbury Theological Seminary; revivals and seminars; a distribution ministry, which gives away clothing and other items; orphanage work; mission teams both building and evangelistic; and missionary support for many individuals working in the foreign mission field. He wrote and published two books entitled ?The Master Plan?, which has been used for Bible study and devotionals by those connected with Lifeline Ministries, and ?Thank You Lord?. For twenty-five years he and his wife held a weekly Bible study in their home. Jimmy was a very active layman in the United Methodist Church for over thirty years, serving in many different capacities. He served as a Sunday School teacher, as a member of the Council on Ministries, and as a member of the Administrative Board. He also served as a lay leader in his church, and as chairman of the Evangelism committee, chairman of the Finance committee, chairman of the Stewardship committee, and chairman of the Worship committee. He preached many revivals and led seminars and workshops both here and in the Methodist Church of Mexico. He served on the board of directors of the South Georgia Conference United Methodist Men, also serving as director of involvement on this board. He served on the board of directors of Vashti Educational Center, both on the executive committee and the personnel committees of this facility. In Thomasville he served on the board of the Salvation Army and on the board of the Open Door Adoption Agency. He was a member of the Volunteers in Mission committee and on the overseas committee of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was an associate member of the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists and preached many revivals and coordinated Lay Witness teams. He led numerous mission teams, both in this country and in Haiti, in St. Vincent in the West Indies and in many locations throughout Mexico. He led many evangelistic teams to Mexico, and sent work teams to build approximately 90 small churches in poverty areas where small congregations were meeting outside or in open structures. Part of this ministry to Mexico was the establishment of feeding stations at many of these churches where approximately 5, 000 children per day are fed a hot, nutritious meal. Jimmy was deeply involved in the ministry of Lifeline until the end of his life both actively and in an advisory capacity. In the years after his health prevented him from going into the mission field, Jimmy started writing a monthly ?Encouraging Words? letter which was emailed to 25, 000 persons worldwide. He helped initiate a ?shoebox ministry? which involved churches in packing shoeboxes of gifts to be delivered to children in poverty in Mexico each Christmas, and started a mission of digging water wells in areas of Mexico without a source of clean water. In his later years, he returned to the First Baptist Church of Thomasville, Georgia, where he had been a member for the first twenty-five years of his life. Survivors include son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Barbara Keyton of Thomasville; daughter, Kay Keyton Attaway of Lawrenceville; daughters and sons-in-law, Ginger and Gordy Palmer of Thomasville and Sandra and Logan Whalen of Norman, Oklahoma; grandchildren, Jason Keyton and wife, Holly, Jarrett Keyton, Jennifer Keyton, Hanna Keyton, Erica Palmer, Brian Palmer, Reynolds Whalen, Jonathan Whalen, Katherine Whalen, Langdon Attaway and Meredith Attaway; great-grandchildren, Haley Keyton, Harrison Keyton and Jacey Keyton. He was also survived by his fiance, Gloria Anne Clark. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to Lifeline Ministries, P.O. Box 90, Thomasville, GA. 31799. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Monday from 6-8 p.m. Visitors may sign the online guest register at www.allenfh.com .
ALLEN & ALLEN FUNERAL HOME
Guestbook
Visits: 0
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors