James R. Garner, Jr.

James R. Garner, Jr., known to all as Jim, died on March 8, 2026, at the age of 95 in Jasper, Georgia. Born on September 29, 1930, in Dothan, Alabama, to Reginald Garner and Noby Norris, Jim lived a long and principled life marked by service, hard work, and deep devotion to family.

He and his beloved wife Jane, married for 62 years, were childhood sweethearts who grew up together in Dothan, attending school side by side. After graduating in 1950, Jim enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War and served four years as a Fighter Intercept Controller at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his primary mission was the protection of the Los Alamos Atomic Energy Facility. Following his military service, he earned a degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University. His professional career included engineering and sales roles at Clark Controller in Cleveland, Industrial Nucleonics in Columbus, Lockheed Aircraft in Marietta as a flight test engineer on the C-130 program, and finally thirty years with General Electric, where he advanced to Area Sales Manager.

Jim and Jane made their home in many places over the years, including Albuquerque, Auburn, Cleveland, Columbus, New York, Phoenix, Marietta, and finally Jasper, Georgia. In 1984, Jane and their son Kirk opened Garner Ace Hardware in Jasper. Jim remained an active member of his community, serving as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Jasper, participating in the Jasper Optimist Club and Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Auxiliary, and contributing as a bailiff in the Pickens County Court System.

He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Kirk and Laura Garner of Jasper; granddaughters Lindsey and Matt Bailey of Jasper, Kristen and Tyler Childers of Ball Ground, Addie Garner of Jasper, Rosemary and Andrew Bayliss of Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, Michelle Hamilton of Flatwoods, Kentucky, and Amy and Billy Henderson of Zanesville, Ohio; grandson Josh and Becca Spence of Hilliard, Ohio; son-in-law Bill Spence of Groveport, Ohio; sister and brother-in-law Jan and Barry Perez of Thomasville; sister-in-law Diane Almand of Dallas, Texas; special friend Rhoda Neighbors of Jasper; sixteen great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Jane King Garner, his daughter Debbie Spence, and his brother Zack Almand.