Otis M. Toole, Jr.

Published 9:53 am Monday, April 10, 2023

Otis M. “Son” Toole, Jr. was born in Bainbridge, Georgia on September 12, 1934, to the late Otis M. Toole, Sr. and Blanche Dell Toole.

He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1951. He attended ABAC in Tifton but came home to help his dad run the farm and dairy. He played the trumpet (1st Chair) in the high school band, played football, and was selected cutest in his 51 class. He was a licensed gunsmith. He was very witty and made everyone love to be around him.

He married Mary Frances Yandell in 1954. His daughter Tina Greene and his granddaughter Christina were his world. He gave Mary Frances a palomino colt before they were married. They enjoyed many years together riding horses around the farm. He grew up riding and breaking horses for a riding stable his family owned in Jacksonville. He and Mary Frances also loved dancing. They went every Saturday night for years. They enjoyed ballroom and line dancing.

He was the oldest member of the Presbyterian Church. He was a deacon, chairman of the board of deacons, then elder and awarded “Elder Emeritus” in 2009. He was a greeter at the front door every Sunday for many years.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Joanne Clements, and his boyhood friends Glenn Griffin, Harry Heaton, Ed King, and Leon Toole. They called themselves “The Roseland Raiders.”

Survivors include his wife, Mary Frances Toole; daughter, Tina Greene; granddaughter, Christina Greene; as well as a host of extended family.

A private graveside service at Roseland will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 53 Perimeter Center E Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30346.

The Toole family has entrusted the arrangements to Ivey Funeral Home, 502 S. Scott Street, Bainbridge, GA 39819.