ROME, Ga. — Donald Hubert Anderson, age 85, of Rome, passed away early Sept. 7, 2015, following an extended stay in Floyd Hospital.

A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Daniel’s Funeral Home with the Revs. Dr. Robert Brown, Anjie Woodworth, and Larry Caywood officiating. The family will receive friends between 10 and 11 a.m. at Daniel’s Funeral Home prior to the service.

Please visit www.daniels-funeralhome.com to post memories or tributes.

In lieu of flowers, please make memory donations to the Rome First United Methodist Church.

Don was born in Vicksburg on April 6, 1930, to Knoble Oliver Anderson, a WWI veteran, and Mary Louise O’Bannon Anderson, both deceased.

He was also preceded in death by Reva Ilene Pugh Anderson, his wife of almost 60 years, and older brother, Norman Dale Anderson.

Immediate survivors include his brother, Marvin Eaton Anderson (Jane Anglin) of Vicksburg; daughter, Pamela Jean Anderson of Rome; son, Keith DeWayne Anderson (Theresa Devine) of Phoenix, Arizona; and granddaughter, Yitazba Leigh Largo-Anderson, a freshman at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Having grown up along the banks of the Mississippi River, Don enjoyed hitching boat rides to Desoto Island where he fished, did frog gigging and squirrel hunting, thus bringing food home to his parents. His mother happily cooked up his prized additions to the table. Don also relished Sunday afternoon walks across the river bridge with childhood friends, many of whom he kept in touch with long after moving away.

As a child of the Depression, Don felt compelled early in life to contribute to the family income. By age 9 he was stocking groceries, sweeping floors, and doing odd jobs at his aunt’s mom & pop grocery, for which he was paid 50 cents a week, and delivering newspapers on a bicycle, for which he was paid 3 cents apiece.

At age 13, he started work in the A & P butcher shop, a job he held up until and beyond his entering into higher education. He took classes Monday through Friday and then hitchhiked back to Vicksburg to work weekends.

Throughout college, he always held at least two jobs at a time, including the delivery and retrieval of dry cleaning, pumping gas at Sears, teaching driver’s education, and coaching YMCA gray/white football for elementary students.

Though the second oldest of three brothers, Don managed to be the first in his family to graduate high school, his alma mater being Carr Central High School. He went on to earn a bachelor of arts in history at Millsaps College, a Master of Divinity at the Chandler School of Theology at Emory University, and a Master of Science at the University of Southern Mississippi.

He always placed a high value on education, both formal and not, and was a life-long learner. After retirement, he continued his education through the Senior Scholars Classes at Berry College, a favorite being a personality profiling class. He also stayed on top of the news through varied forms of media until his dying day. He enjoyed reading the local newspaper daily, as well as numerous political, medical, and nutritional journals, and watching CNN and MBSN. His favorite TV shows included “NCIS,” “Law & Order,” and Bill Maher.

Don loved people, as made self-evident by his life’s work. After graduating from seminary, he served seven United Methodist Churches for a total of 18 years at various locations throughout Mississippi.

His favorite appointment was as the Wesley Foundation Director and campus minister at the University of Mississippi, where he witnessed the admission of James Meredith, the first black to enroll.

He always spoke fondly of the late Rev. Roy Delamonte, who advocated at the Mississippi Conference for the desegregation of the Methodist Church throughout the state, and who later wrote about his experience under a pseudonym in “The Stained Glass Jungle.”

In 1970, Don and his family moved to Rome, where he accepted a job with the State of Georgia as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. At the same time, he continued to serve numerous United Methodist churches in the area, thus reviving his tradition of holding at least two jobs to support himself and his family. He also worked as the director of rehabilitation for the State Board of Worker’s Compensation for five years.

In 1984, he retired, but continued to serve small churches until full-time care of his wife became necessary due to her failing health. He lovingly and patiently nursed her through myriad illnesses, disorders, and operations for nearly 25 years until she succumbed in December of 2011.

After her passing, Don found a wonderful and supportive room of kindred spirits in the NoMads Sunday School class at Rome First United Methodist Church. Their shared love of reading, book discussions, and fellowship greatly enriched his declining years.

Don loved well-prepared “tasty” food. Both his mother Louise and wife Reva “spoiled him rotten” with their excellent cooking. His mother was renowned as the best divinity and sugar crust pound cake confectioner in Vicksburg.

For her part, Reva loved reading cookbooks and then combining her reading and southern rearing to improvise creative and delicious dishes. Don loved trying new restaurants and foods and enjoyed many gourmet-quality meals at the culinary arts center at Georgia Northwest Technical College. One of his main complaints during the last months of life, as he faced growing dietary restraints, was that his food was so “bland and tasteless” as to sap his appetite and joie de vivre.

Don loved his family and always put them first in his life, even to the point sometimes of putting aside his own wants and needs. He will be remembered as a kind, loving, and supportive husband, father, and grandfather—as the rock of the family, the solid ground on which the rest of us stood, always loyal and steadfast, his counsel wise, his ways gentle, his heart generous, and his ethical standards high.

He spent almost every waking moment caring for his beloved wife for the last 10 years of her life. Later, he developed health issues of his own, among them being diabetes, beginning in his early 50’s, retinal failure and dialysis, followed by fluctuating blood pressure, heart disease, and several minor strokes.

He maintained a self-deprecating sense of humor through it all and seized every opportunity to deliver a “lecture” to his loved ones about exercising and staying away from the evils of fast food. More than anything else, he believed his life calling was to be good and to help people, whether as a minister nursing his flock to spiritual well-being, as a counselor showing his clients the path to self-efficacy, or as a father and grandfather encouraging and guiding his progeny to become mature, productive adults.

His greatest desire in his later years was to enjoy time with family, to socialize as much as his health would allow, to read and study to keep his mind sharp, and to continue in some small way to have a positive influence on the lives of those around him. This dear man will be greatly missed by many, but most especially by his adoring family.