• Rinehart & Sons
David Michael Allen
Brunswick—David Michael “Mike” Allen, 74, of Brunswick died May 13, 2026, in the Hospice of the Golden Isles House.
The Wayne County native and former resident of Jesup had lived in Brunswick for most of his adult life. He was a welder by trade and was an employee of Jered, LLC, for 23 years. Some favorite pastimes were traveling and movie watching.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Lamar Allen, and Orita Tyre Allen; and two brothers, Thomas Holland and James Patrick Allen.
Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Michele Allen of Brunswick; a sister, April Moore of Brunswick; and several nieces and nephews.
A private burial was held May 17 in the Jesup City Cemetery by his family.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice of the Golden Isles, 1692 Glynco Pkwy., Brunswick, GA 31525.
Rinehart and Sons Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Donald Virlyn “Bubba” Nix
Jesup—Donald Virlyn “Bubba” Nix, 63, of Jesup died May 18, 2026, at his home, surrounded by his loving daughters and under the care of Hospice of South Georgia.
He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church and a graduate of Wayne County High School’s Class of 1981, where he proudly played guard for the Wayne County Yellow Jackets football team. During high school, he developed a strong interest in drafting and woodworking through the classes of James Robertson, whom he continued to speak highly of in recent years. He was also a member of DECA and, as he would jokingly say, belonged to the club that looked for every chance possible to skip school.
He began working at the age of 12 in the tobacco fields for a short time and later held positions at Pic N Save, Revco Pharmacy as a stock boy, Rick’s Meats and Gibson McDonald. In 1983 he began his career as a correctional officer at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. After 20 years of dedicated service, he retired as unit manager, a position he often referred to as being a “mini-warden.”
It was at the prison where he met the love of his life, Lamanda Kay, and the two were married in 1990. Together, they built a life founded on Christ and raised their two daughters to trust in the Lord daily. Though they faced many trials throughout life, their faith and love remained steadfast.
He was a simple man who enjoyed bass fishing, turkey hunting and chasing whitetail deer. He never turned down a good old-fashioned white perch fish fry and proudly bled red and black for his beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs. He will be remembered as an honest, selfless and genuine man—“true as they come,” his family said.
Above all else, he was a devoted husband, daddy, son, brother and friend. His favorite and greatest title, however, was “Papa.”
He was preceded in death by his wife of 34 years, Lamanda Kay Nix; his father, Johnny Virlyn Nix; Granny Alice Blocker; and Granny Nix.
Survivors include his two daughters, Brandi (Bailey) Thornton of Odum and Brittney (Ben) Crook of Jesup; his grandson and “Snuggle Bug,” Beckett Thornton, and bonus grandson, Emerson Crook; his mother, Edna Nix Arnold of Perry; his two sisters, Sharon (Mike) Lassiter of Perry and Mary (Steve) Mason of Greenville, South Carolina; several nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins; and his beloved furry companion, Swagger.
Graveside funeral services were held May 20 at Odum City Cemetery with the Rev. Vann Dempsey and the Rev. Pete Boyd officiating. Active pallbearers were Joey Miller, Ridge Shefka, Wesley Eason, Wesley and Cody Lassiter, and Mike, Greg, Hulen and Buddy Blocker and Doug and Norman “Rerun” Miller. Honorary pallbearers were members of the Wayne County High School Class of 1981 and his fellow colleagues from Georgia State Prison.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of South Georgia, 1625 Sunset Blvd., Jesup, GA 31545.
Rinehart and Sons Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
• Howard & Jones
Jerry Paul Landon Sr.
Screven—Jerry Paul Landon Sr., 69, died peacefully at home on May 12, 2026 under the care of GHC Hospice.
He was born on Feb. 27, 1957, in Pierce County to the late George Otis “G.O.” Landon and Vera Roberson Landon. He spent his early years in Wayne County before relocating to Miami, Florida, at the age of 16. While living in Miami, he began a career that he would work in for the next 50 years—construction
Shortly after starting his career, he met and married the love of his life, Barbara Kay Harris Landon. The couple relocated back to Wayne County after they were married, and they began to build a home and a life together with their children.
He worked for Ray Thornton Builders for nearly 20 years before beginning his own construction company, where he built everything from homes to cabinets and anything else that needed building. He was highly skilled and meticulous with his work. He lived a simple life. All he needed was what he had. He was always working on a project in his shop, and he was eager to pass on his knowledge and skills to his children and grandchildren.
In his spare time, he enjoyed fishing, hunting and spending time with the ones he loved the most, his beloved family.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brothers, J.R., James, Ray, Julian, Lawton and Joseph Landon, and two sisters, Janice Manning and Jeanette Peacock.
Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Barbara Kay Harris Landon of Screven; one daughter, Amy (Brandon) Campbell of Odum; two sons, Paul (Jessica) Landon of Blackshear and Bryan (Heather) Landon of Screven; grandchildren, Annason, Lindsey and Summer Campbell and Austin, Logan, Hunter, Brenden Landon and Christopher Pinyan; three sisters, Wanda Bradley of Eufaula, Alabama, Shirley Landon of Blackshear and Betty Summers of Alma; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other extended-family members.
Private burial services will be held in Red Hill Cemetery at a later date.
The family would like to express its deepest appreciation to the staff of GHC Hospice for all the extra special loving care shown to Jerry in his final days. “You all went above and beyond the call of duty, and we will forever be grateful,” the family said.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to New Life Church, P.O. Box 164, Jesup, GA 31598 or GHC Hospice at carnationfoundation.org.
Family and friends may sign the guestbook online at www.jesupfuneralhome.com.
Howard & Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
• Out of town
Elliott Earl Brack
Norcross—Highly respected veteran Georgia newspaperman Elliott E. Brack, 90, of Norcross died May 15, 2026, peacefully from natural causes at his home.
He was an editor, publisher and newspaper executive for more than six decades and received scores of state and national news awards, including winning best weekly editorial page in the country for two successive years in the late 1960s. He also authored an 850-page book of the history of Gwinnett County, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, which was published in 2008. The book won the Award of Excellence for documenting Georgia history from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board in 2010. He also authored 366 Facts about Gwinnett, printed in 2018 for the county’s bicentennial.
Born in rural Wilkinson County in 1935, he grew up in Macon and graduated from Lanier Boys High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in 1957. While at Mercer, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity; was business manager of the student newspaper, The Cluster; and, for four years, was manager of the Mercer basketball team. He was also elected president of the “M” Club.
His first job in newspapers was as a newspaper carrier for nine years with the Macon News, and later The Telegraph. While in high school, he began reporting sports activities for the Macon papers, and he continued while in college.
He was commissioned a U.S. Army officer through the ROTC program in college and previously had been a member of the 48th Infantry Division headquarters of the Georgia National Guard, and was for two years a member of the Army Reserve. He served on active duty in the Army for three-and-a-half years in Germany as a commissary and Class VI officer. After military service, he obtained his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa.
He had careers at several levels of newspapering. After being a reporter for the Macon Telegraph before entering the Army, he became publisher in 1962 of the Wayne County Press in Jesup, winning state and national newspaper awards. He moved to Gwinnett County in 1974 and was vice president and general manager of the Gwinnett Daily News, and later served for one year in a similar position with the Marietta Daily Journal. He joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1988 as the associate publisher of its daily Gwinnett EXTRA, retiring in 2001.
He was a visiting assistant professor of journalism at the Henry W. Grady School of the University of Georgia in 1973-74, teaching beginning reporting and initiating its newspaper management program. He continued teaching newspaper management at the Grady school for eight more years.
In 1979 he became chairman and president of The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc., when that student newspaper became independent of the University. He served in that position for 33 years while the newspaper thrived.
After his retirement, he continued to be involved in community life in Gwinnett by publishing the online GwinnettForum.com from 2001 until the present. Altogether, in the weekly and daily publications and on the internet, he wrote more than 10,000 columns (usually 500 words), commenting on anything from human interest stories to dirt roads, politics and national topics.
He was a member of the Jesup Rotary Club, where he served as president, and later a member of the Gwinnett Rotary Club. He had more than 63 years with perfect attendance.
His honors followed his interests. Besides many state and national newspaper awards, he was named a Public Service award winner in 1988 by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. In 1994 the Chamber named him its Citizen of the Year. He also served as president of the Georgia Press Association in 1987-88. He was a member of its Golden Club. For 15 years he represented the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association on the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
He was the founding chairman and served for eight years as chairman for Leadership Gwinnett. He later also founded Senior Leadership Gwinnett. He was a member of the vestry of three different Episcopal churches and was a communicant since 1979 of Christ Church in Norcross, where he was a lector, greeter and finance committee member. He represented his church as a delegate to the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Council for many years.
Among his other civic activities, he was a member of the Metro Atlanta Board of Directors of the Salvation Army for 20 years. In 2015 he was awarded the Salvation Army’s “Other” Award, for distinguished service. Only about 50 Georgians have received this award. He chaired the drive to raise $4.3 million for the Salvation Army in Gwinnett for its new facilities on Sugarloaf Parkway.
He was active in many civic affairs. He was chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross, served for eight years as a trustee of the Atlanta Historical Center and served on the Gwinnett County Draft Board; and on the advisory board of the Neighborhood Cooperative Ministry. He was proud to be president of the Eastern Continental Divide Association. He was a member of the Gridiron Secret Society at the University of Georgia. He was a regular attender of the PDC Club of Norcross on Wednesday mornings.
Among his achievements was raising funds for charitable institutions. He chaired the United Way in Gwinnett’s campaign in 1989, raising more money than ever before. He also chaired the campaign to raise $4.3 million for the Robert Fowler YMCA in Peachtree Corners. He led efforts for funding a $2 million building at the University of Georgia for The Red and Black newspaper.
He is survived by his wife, the former Barbara London, originally from Arkansas, whom he met while in high school in Macon; three children, Andrew C. Brack of Charleston, South Carolina; Elizabeth C. Brack Fehrs of Durham, North Carolina; and the late Catherine C. Brack of Charleston; and two granddaughters, Avery L. Brack and Ellen H. Brack, both of Charleston.
A funeral will be held May 30 at 2 p.m. at Christ Church Episcopal, 400 Holcomb Bridge Road, Norcross. Burial will be held May 31 at 2 p.m. at Walnut Creek Baptist Church near Allentown, about a mile from where he was born.
Crowell Brothers Peachtree Chapel Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be expressed at www.crowellbrothers.com.