Services for Miriam Garrison Minter are at 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at the First Baptist Church of Cairo. Dr. Robert Gorham Garrison will officiate. A private interment will follow at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Thomasville. Active pallbearers are Heath Phelps, Nat Higdon, Charles Oliver, Whit Brame, Robert G. Koehler, Todd Moseley Duncan, Bill Hayes and Fred Murphy. Born Aug. 6, 1918, in Coolidge, Mrs. Minter was the daughter of the late J. Gorham and Vessie Smith Garrison. She was married on Aug. 6, 1941, to J. Carl Minter, a banker in Cairo, who preceded her in death on Oct. 24, 1982. Reared in Ochlochnee, she was a graduate of Ochlochnee High School and Georgia Southwestern College. For 65 years, Mrs. Minter was an active member of Cairo First Baptist Church, where she served as president of the Women's Missionary Union, Sunday School teacher, and on numerous leadership committees until declining health prevented her attendance. Also active civically, she held membership in the Cairo Woman's Club and the Camellia Garden Club. She was a nationally accredited flower show judge whose own artistic arrangements added beauty and dignity to countless worship services and community functions. She will be remembered for her love of church, family and community and the generous spirit with which she shared her time and artistic talents. Survivors include daughter, Sarah Minter Timmerman and her son-in-law, Ed Timmerman of Cairo; sons, J. Carl Minter Jr., of Cairo, John Gorham Minter of Ochlochnee; grandchildren, Frank Timmerman and Miriam Timmerman of Atlanta, Catherine Roark of Valdosta, J. Carl Minter III of Lexington, Ky.; a great-granddaughter, Jillian Roark of Valdosta; brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Searcy Slaton and Antoinette Garrison; sister, Margaret Garrison Koehler all of Atlanta; a number of nieces and nephews, including Dr. Robert Garrison of Thomasville; and Larry Higdon of Cairo son of life-long friends. Mrs. Minter was preceded in death by a brother, Andrew Madison Garrison; and a sister, Jeanne Garrison Moseley. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m., today at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Timmerman, 1460 Thirteenth Street, NW, Cairo. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Baptists Today, Box 6318, Macon, Ga. 31208-6318 (www.baptiststoday.org); or to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, Box 4343, Macon, Ga. 31208-4343 (www.thefellowship.org); or to Baptist Heritage Council of Georgia, P.O. Box 49453, Athens, Ga. 30606-9453 (www.mainstreambaptistnetwork.org/georgia). Visitors may sign the online guest register at www.clarkfuneral.com. — Clark Funeral Home