Thomas Musselwhite Jr.

After 103+ years of purpose and blessings, Thomas D. Musselwhite, Jr., has left his earthly home for his heavenly home. Born on April 11, 1922, in Moultrie, Georgia, to Thomas D. Musselwhite, Sr., and Winnie Ruth Chappell Musselwhite, he lived an iconic American life.

The second of eight children, “Tim” grew up a few blocks from the main park in Thomasville, Georgia, the City of Roses and football championships. Although not the biggest and best football player of six boys because of his small size, he was a Thomasville Bulldog team member and enjoyed the successes of his siblings for many years. All brothers and sisters passed on before him, but memories of the continued closeness of the big, happy family were with him to the end.

After graduation from high school in 1940, he began active service in World War II in the U.S. Army. He served as an enlisted soldier with two officers in a 3-man reconnaissance team that worked behind enemy lines and saved many lives in the China-Burma-India Theater. He was awarded the Legion of Merit by General Joseph Stilwell at the end of the war and was offered an appointment to West Point.

Ready to move on from the military, he went to Atlanta to prepare himself for a career. While attending the University of Georgia extension and eventually Southern Business University, he worked for and was mentored by respected Atlanta jeweler Walter R. Thomas, Sr., in several roles, including diamond specialist and manager of stores in Atlanta and Rome, Georgia.

During that time, he also met the love of his life, Ramona Bailey Musselwhite, with whom he recently celebrated 76 years of marriage.

After several years in the jewelry business, he began work with the United States Postal Service in Decatur, Georgia, and eventually retired from a supervisory position there.

In thirty-five years of retirement, he was able to do the things that brought him joy: work with his tools to fix things; take care of his home; spend time with sisters and brothers, lifelong couple friends, neighbors, and Woodlawn and Cumming First Baptist friends; help daughter Pam with her decorating business;

and, most importantly, travel to do whatever was needed for his children and grandchildren.

Two step-granddaughters set the stage for grandparenting in Atlanta. Then, although travel was not his priority after the War, daughter Pam’s role as a Delta flight attendant and son Tommy’s Secret Service responsibilities gave him reason and means to go to Houston, Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Vancouver, and Bainbridge Island, Washington, with Ramona to fulfill their roles as Mema and Papa. Together, they also helped meet needs of grandsons closer by in Georgia.

Grandchildren will remember him as a handsome, well-groomed, dependable, intelligent, skillful, organized, hard-working, reserved gentleman with high standards, whose face would light up when they were in his presence.

Daughter, Pam Heilman, passed away in 2016. He is survived by his wife, Ramona Bailey Musselwhite, daughter Sharon Coleman (fiancé Perry Thompson), son Thomas D. Musselwhite III (Peggy), grandsons Ryan Coleman (Stephani), Ross Coleman, Tyler Daniel, Thomas J. Musselwhite (fiancée Gaby Tosado) and Scott Musselwhite (Elisa Kruse); great-grandchildren Hudson and Charlotte Daniel; step-granddaughters Michele Coleman Nelson (Chap) and Meredith Daniel Needleman; and extended family, including Lanny and Teri Heilman, and Musselwhite, Bailey, and Hudson cousins, nieces and nephews.

In his final years, Papa was blessed with kind, attentive, and hard-working caregivers and healthcare workers. Those people include lead caregiver DeVora White, Delourdes Bien-Aime, Jocelyne Brun, Marie Louis, Marie Jose’ Victor, and Leonide Lestin; hospice nurse practitioner Misty Long, nurses Kristen Carroll, Pat Co, Melissa Martin-Ramsey, and hospice team members Candice Williams, Bincy Baby, Stefany Benitez, and Tracie King; occupational therapist Elizabeth Schlappi; and physical therapist Chad Smith.

Family is also grateful to Doug Caudill, Bob and Shirley James, Angie Bollinger, Ralph Szweda, Donna Millard, Ernie Harding, Patty Widdowson, and Larry Blair for extraordinary support they provided during his last years.

Thank you to friends and family for your cards, letters, texts, visits, and many forms of emotional support.

Special thanks to Forsyth County Fire Department stations 11 and 2 and Emergency Management personnel, who came to the rescue many times over the past 10 years.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Welcome Sunday School Class, First Baptist Church, 1597 Sawnee Drive, Cumming, Georgia 30040, the class for senior adults that was the source of many good friends and times.