Vendie H. "V.H." Hooks, Jr.

Metter, Georgia—Funeral services for Mr. Vendie Hudson “V.H.” Hooks, Jr., 85, of Metter, Georgia, who died February 20, 2007 at the Georgia War Veterans Home, Augusta, will be conducted Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the Metter First Baptist Church. Elder John Shelton Mikell, Elder Tommy Roundtree, Rev. Michael Guido and Rev. Fred Pifer officiating. Interment in Lake Cemetery. Mr. Hooks was the son of the late Elder Vendie Hudson Hooks, Sr. and Fleetie Yeomans Hooks. He was a graduate of Swainsboro High School and Gupton-Jones College of Mortuary Science and he attended the University of Georgia. He served in the United States Coast Guard and was a veteran of World War II. Mr. Hooks was a Regional Manager of the Veterans Administrative Office in 1944-45. As a member and Deacon of the New Hope Primitive Baptist Church, he served as Clerk of the Original Upper Canoochee Association of Primitive Baptist for 20 years. V.H. and his wife, May Jones Hooks, were owners and operators of Hooks Mortuary for 46 years. He was a member of the Georgia and National Funeral Directors Associations and represented the funeral profession at the Federal Trade Commission hearing in Washington, DC. He served as President of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association 1975-76. Mr. Hooks was the Candler County Coroner for 24 years and the State Mortician at Reidsville State Prison for 20 years. He served as President of the Metter Kiwanis Club and as a District Lt. Governor of Kiwanis. He was past Commander of the Candler County American Legion Post #108. He was past Chairman of the American Red Cross and the Cancer Society. Mr. Hooks served on the Board of Directors of Pineland State Bank, Candler County Hospital Authority, Metter Housing Authority and Candler County Board of Education. He was a member of the Historical Society of Candler County. Mr. Hooks served on the State Democratic Executive Committee of Georgia and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention. He served in an honorary capacity for Governers, Herman Talmadge, Marvin Griffin, Ernest Vandiver and Carl E. Sanders and served on an Advisory Committee for Congressmen Ronald Bo Ginn and Lindsay Thomas. Mr. Hooks was the coordinator and Master of Ceremonies for Miss Candler County Beauty Pageant for 20 years. Giving his time to speaking and chaperoning FBLA conferences, Mr. Hooks was the first person designated an Honorary Life Member of the Metter High School Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America. He was selected Business Person of the year in 1983 by the FBLA at the National Leadership Conference in San Francisco. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, May Jones Hooks, Metter; two sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. Vendie H. Hooks, III and Carolyn, Augusta, Carson Jones Hooks and Stephanie, Norfolk, Virginia; six grandchildren and spouses, Vendie Hudson Hooks, IV and Lauren, Atlanta, Susanna Hooks Sayer and Dr. Jason Sayer, St. Simons, David B. Hooks, Atlanta, Katherine W. Hooks, Rome, Carson J. Hooks and Julia and Christopher H. Hooks and Elizabeth all of Austin, Texas; a great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Riley Sayer; three sisters and brothers-in-law, Celeste Reese, Memphis, Tennessee, Marcile and George M. Bird, Jr., Metter, Betty and Dr. Bobby Underwood, Jasper, Alabama; two brothers and sisters-in-law, Gerald and Sue Hooks and Donald and Sylvia Hooks all of Lexsy. Honorary Pallbearers will be all former employees of Hooks Mortuary since 1946 and members of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association. Active Pallbearers will be grandsons, John Allen Lanier, Ronald Brown and Dr. Willis Lanier. The family will receive friends at the Kennedy Funeral Home, Hooks Chapel, Metter, Georgia this Friday evening from 5:30-9:30. Memorials may be made to the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home, Patient Benefit Fund, 1101 15th St., Augusta, Georgia 30901; New Hope Primitive Baptist Church, PO Box 560, Swainsboro, Georgia 30401 or to the Vendie Hudson Hooks, Sr. Scholarship, c/o Jerry Hooks, East Georgia College, 131 College Circle, Swainsboro, Georgia 30401. Stephen D. Posey Funeral Home of North Augusta in charge of arrangements, 803-278-1181). Visit the registry online at www.poseyfuneralhome.com.

Tributes

Vendie H. "V.H." Hooks, Jr.

October 4, 1921 - February 20, 2007