Bennie Art Gadson

Dec. 17, 1943 –

July 9, 2011

A memorial service for Bennie Art Gadson Sr., 67, of Bainbridge, Ga., will be held Saturday, July 16, at St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church with the Revs. Kelley and Lenorris Gadson officiating.

Born in Bainbridge on Dec. 17, 1943, to Tommy Sr. and Mollie Close Gadson, Mr. Gadson died on July 9, 2011, at Bainbridge Manor Nursing Home in Bainbridge, Ga.

Mr. Gadson was a member of St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church in Bainbridge and worked in the maintenance department for the City of Tallahassee, Fla. He was preceded in death by his father, Thomas Gadson Sr.

He is survived by his mother, Mollie Close Gadson of Bainbridge, Ga.; six daughters, Cassandra Smith of Enterprise, Ala.; Ivory Smitty and her husband, John, of Ocala, Fla.; Renee Gadson, Katrina Gadson and Latrice Mitchell and her husband, Michael, all of Tallahassee, Fla., and Thomasene Cook and her husband James of Jacksonville, FL; three sons, Lenorris Gadson of Bainbridge; Bennie Gadson Jr. and his wife, Bridgett, of Colquitt, Ga., and Bernard Gadson of Elmira, N.Y.; three brothers, Jeremiah Gadson of Chattahoochee, Fla., and Charles Gadson and Bruce Gadson, both of Bainbridge; four sisters, Mary Gadson, Barbara Garnes, Cassandra Gadson and Sonja Gadson, all of Bainbridge, Ga., 31 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.