Caudie C. Smith Keaton

June 1, 2016

Caudie C. Smith Keaton, 93, of Bainbridge, Ga., passed away Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at Memorial Manor.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2016 at Ivey Funeral Home with Rev. Bryan Hatchett officiating. Interment will be at Roselawn Memory Gardens with her grandsons, Rodney Mobley, Reggie Mobley, Steven Keaton, Brandon Keaton, and Chad Knight, serving as active pallbearers.

The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.iveyfuneral.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to: The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 Eighth Ave., 7th fl., New York, NY 10001.

Caudie Coleen Smith was born January 28, 1923 in the Dellwood Community in Mitchell County, Ga., the daughter of Charlie Smith and Mary Jane Humphrey Smith. She was a graduate of Mount Pleasant High School and member of Oak Grove Christian Church. Caudie married her childhood sweetheart, Swinton Keaton, in 1943.

As a dedicated and caring mother, Caudie always put her children and grandchildren first. She was a hard worker and never stopped short of supplying their every need. Caudie worked at Jack Winter Inc., United Plastics, and even a factory in Macon that made bombs for the military during World War II. When not working, she could be found in her kitchen or at her sewing machine. Caudie was a skilled seamstress; she made all of Teresa’s clothes including her wedding gown. She considered serving a good meal one way to share her love with others. Her buttermilk biscuits were her trademark.

Survivors include her sons, Steve Keaton and his wife, Shirley, of Worth County, Ga. and Roger Keaton and his wife, Sandra, of Bainbridge, Ga.; her daughter Teresa Ulrich and her husband, John, of Bainbridge, Ga.; her grandchildren, Rodney Mobley and Buffy, Reggie Mobley and Wendy, Tiffany Knight and Chad, Steven Keaton, Brandon Keaton, Angie Teal and Shawn, and Jan Bennett and Chad; her fourteen great-grandchildren; and her five great-great-grandchildren. In addition to her parents, Caudie was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Swinton Charles Keaton; her brothers, Preston Smith, Joe Smith, J.C. Smith, John Smith and Richard Smith; and her sisters, Ernestine Godwin, Charlie Mae Faircloth and Odessa Gleaton.