Ms. Barbara Gibson Walton

Barbara Altelene Gibson Walton of Americus passed away Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at her home. The family will greet friends at Aldridge Funeral and Cremation Service on Friday, September 27, from 6:00-8:00 pm. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 28 at 2:00 pm at Lifepoint Church of God in Americus. Those officiating will be Rev. James Womack and Rev. Noel Collver. Grandsons will serve as pall bearers. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Barbara Walton was born May 10, 1937, in Thomaston, Georgia. She was the daughter of Horace Andrew Gibson and Maudie Cash Gibson Bales. In 1946, at the age of nine, young Barbara was placed in the Georgia Industrial Home for Children in Macon, where she lived until her 1955 graduation from A. L. Miller High School. Although offered a scholarship in music to Wesleyan College, Barbara chose to attend Georgia Southwestern College in Americus, where she finished the two-year program in 1957, later earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1970, and a Masters’ degree in Elementary Education in 1975. These accomplishments led to her job at the local Department of Family and Children’s Services, and ultimately, to the classroom. During her teaching career, she served on the faculties of elementary schools in Byromville, Cordele, Dawson, Ellaville, Leesburg, Montezuma and Plains, and she also taught at Americus High School from 1973 to 1975. As a young child, while walking the sidewalks of Atlanta, people would call for Barbara, from their front porches, to come up and sing for them, and they’d give her money. Opportunities to use her talent continued during Barbara’s years at the orphanage, where she’d sing most of the solos when various groups would perform for the local civic clubs. Mrs. Lucy Lee Cauthen, a member of the Pilot Club, influenced Barbara greatly, as she invested much time in her by bringing her to her home, or taking her to Atlanta, for weekends. As a young girl at Macon’s Cherokee Heights Methodist Church, Barbara began to feel compassion for people in other parts of the world, thus having a desire to become a missionary. While she never relocated to a foreign country, she did financially support children in different parts of the world for many years. This unwavering compassion was always present in her. She was so tenderhearted to, and almost seemed to prefer, those challenged and less fortunate than herself. Students in the various classrooms of Southwest Georgia, and people of all ages -in every place in her life- experienced her love and understanding firsthand. Barbara’s commitment to God was proven by her choices in life. She prioritized not only church attendance, but total church involvement, and truly believed that these were synonymous with the Christian life. While at Americus’ First Assembly of God, her church for most of her adult life, she was a leader in the Missionettes girls’ group and was involved in the Women’s Ministries. She served the Bus Ministry as a “captain”, going out on Saturday mornings to reach young children and invite them to church. However, most of her service to God was through music. She was always the strongest alto in the choir, and she sang Christian music with many different people. One of Barbara’s most significant endeavors was in her helping to launch a Southern Gospel group, The Galatians, with whom she traveled for seven years, singing at churches all over Georgia. In 1975, she and the group recorded an album. Later in life, Barbara was affiliated with different churches in the Americus area and, while a resident of Anniston, Alabama for twelve years, was a member of Harvest Church of God. Her final years were marked by her membership at Lifepoint Church of God in Americus, where her pastor has acknowledged that she was always such an encouragement. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers Bill, Dewitt, Eugene, infant James, and Darrell, and by her sisters Myra and Linda. Former husbands, Richard McAfee, the father of her children, and Raymond Whitman and Earl Walton also preceded her. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Sharon and Noel Collver of Ball Ground, Georgia, and Tammye and Brett Hewett of Americus; six grandchildren and their spouses, Ashley and David Steinberg, Erin and Tim Johnson, Cameron and Heather Collver, and Chandler and Melissa Collver, all of Ball Ground and Canton, Georgia; Richard and Allison Green of Albany, Georgia, and Ross and Ashlyn Green of Lagrange, Georgia. Thirteen greatgrandchildren also survive: Cooper, Paxton, Reuben, and Avonlea Johnson; Maddox and Arden Collver; Emery, Cohen, and Annie Collver; and Willow, Wren, Winston, and soon-tobe-born Walker Green. A brother, Jim Bales of McDonough, survives. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Lifepoint Church or Dream Church Canton. The family would like to thank Mrs. Katie Sumner and Ms. Angie Frazier for their constant, personal, loving care that they brought to Barbara’s life in her last years; to life-long friend, Mrs. Linda Campbell; and to Chad, Gwen, and all the wonderful staff of PruittHealth Hospice and Palliative Care of Cordele. To sign the online guest book and share your condolences with the family, please visit aldridgefuneralservices.com. Aldridge Funeral & Cremation Services is in charge of the arrangements.

Ms. Barbara Gibson Walton

May 10, 1937 - September 25, 2024