Obituary (from The Post Seachlight, Bainbridge, GA, Friday, June 8, 2012):
died at Memorial Manor Nursing Home.
Stone married Mary Tallulah Bower Stone, on Nov. 1, 1944 at the Bainbridge Air Base Chapel. Mrs. Stone passed away in October 2011 at the age of 92.
They had two daughters, Laura and Joanna. Stone's younger brother, Harold, passed away in 2002 after spending the latter part of his life in Bainbridge.
Survivors include his two daughters, Laura Caroline Stone Bridges and Joanna Elisabeth Stone, both of Bainbridge, GA; his two grandsons, Tommy H.
Bridges, Jr. and his wife, Kristin Shetler Bridges of Dunwoody, GA, and James Dickinson Bridges of New York City, NY; his two great-grandsons, William Erickson Bridges and Harlin Stone Bridges of Dunwoody, GA; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Mr. Stone was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Bower Stone; and his brother, Harold J. Stone.
"There's a Stone's Store Near You!" a 2008 biography of Stone by Lou Merritt.
Stone had relatives in Valdosta, Ga., where he attended a year at Emory Junior College in 1936-1937.
Stone had relatives in Valdosta, Ga., where he attended a year at Emory Junior College in 1936-1937. After his parents could no longer afford college, Stone returned to Virginia and worked at a farm, at a mill and as a bill collector before training to become an Army pilot. He came to Bainbridge in 1943 to attend aviation cadet training during World War II. He later served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a B-17 bomber pilot, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant. He was shot down over German-controlled oil fields in Romania, and was taken as a prisoner of war. He was released in September 1944 and returned to America via Italy.
Stone married and was a flight instructor at Moody Field in Valdosta, Ga., for a short time before receiving a medical retirement from the Army in 1945 (due to a back injury he sustained while flying overseas.)
After getting a degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia, he returned to Bainbridge for good in 1949, at first working for the hardware store chain owned by his father-in-law, J.D. Bower Sr., who had been in business since the 1920s. Stone also worked for Western Auto and a Ford dealership in the 1950s, before starting his own business.
"I was born in Virginia, but I got here just as fast as I could," Stone was known for saying about Bainbridge. April 17, 2009 was declared "Jim Stone Day" in the City of Bainbridge, marking the 50th anniversary of the first Stone's store.
His friend Charles Kirbo introduced him to Jimmy Carter, who was at the time running for Governor of Georgia. Upon his election in 1971, Governor Carter appointed Stone to a commission which helped recommend candidates for judgeships around the state. In his book, Stone recalled Carter-who later became the 39th President of the United States-coming to Bainbridge to attend Kirbo's funeral in 1996 and dropping by Stone's store.
He was recognized by the Chamber as Bainbridge's Man of the Year in 1987 and in 2007 he received the Chamber's Community Service Award. He received the Hero of Freedom Award at Grace Christian Academy in 2003.
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