MARLON CHARLES JAMES

Marlon Charles James passed away peacefully on Tuesday night, August 15, 2023, at Southeast Health in Dothan, AL.

Funeral services for Mr. James will be held on Friday, August 18, 2023, at 11:00 AM at First Presbyterian Church of Donalsonville, GA with Rev. Stephen Webb officiating.  Interment will follow in Friendship Memorial Gardens with members of the Georgia State Patrol Honor Guard serving as pallbearers.  Honorary pallbearers will be active and retired Georgia State Patrol.  Visitation will be held on Thursday evening, August 17, 2023, from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the Chapel of Evans-Skipper Funeral Home.  Flowers will be accepted or memorial contributions may be made to Seminole County Warpath on Cancer 200 W. 10th St. Donalsonville, GA 39845.

Mr. James was born in Donalsonville, Georgia to Jesse and Nettie Newton James on June 5, 1949, and was raised in Jakin.  He was a natural born athlete at Seminole County High School, where he was a Georgia all-state basketball star and a starter on the 1967 state champion baseball team.  It was in high school that he met the love of his life, the former Sylvia Godby.  Shortly after high school, Mr. James served his country proudly in the Army as a Vietnam Veteran, serving primarily as a dog trainer.  When he came home, he worked for almost 30 years with the Georgia State Patrol.

He retired to a life of patrolling the local restaurants throughout Donalsonville with several other well known and loved men of this community, sharing tall tales of years gone by, oftentimes with his grandson, Bryson, in tow.  The greatest joy of his life was being an active part of the lives of his two grandchildren, who loved him almost as much as he loved them.  Bryson was the son he never had, and he proudly referred to granddaughter, Abigail, as “Papa’s Baby Doll”.  Mr. James was an active member of the American Legion Post 157, and the First Presbyterian Church of Donalsonville.

He leaves to cherish his memory his beloved wife, Sylvia; his two daughters, Holley Grantham (Bradley) and Amy James; his grandchildren, Abigail Grantham and Bryson Grantham; his nieces, Faye James Harting and Cheryl Hudspeth; and his nephew, Michael Hudspeth.

Mr. James is preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Jimmy James, his sister, Anne James Hudspeth, and a niece Jeannie Kaye James.