Sarah McLeod

Known as “Doodle” to friends and family, Sarah was born in 1932 to Charles and Julia Franklin, the youngest of four children. Aside from a few years spent in Baltimore, Maryland, while she was in grammar school, and a few years in Naples, Florida, during retirement, she spent her entire life in Bartow County. She graduated from Cass High School in 1949, where she was secretary/treasurer of her senior class and a production manager for the first-ever Cascon yearbook.

A few years after graduation, she met a tall, good-looking, smart, and kind man named Jim McLeod, beginning a romance that would last until Jim’s passing in 2017. Sarah and Jim were married in 1953, and they were a couple who genuinely enjoyed each other’s company (as long as the subject of The Great Clothesline Fight wasn’t brought up) and set an example of what a great marriage can be.

After the birth of two of their three sons, Sarah was employed by the City of Cartersville for many years, becoming assistant city manager, where she was instrumental in renovating the Old Post Office building into City offices, and also earned the distinction of becoming the first female acting city manager in Georgia.

After retirement, Jim and Sarah toured North America in their RV and then spent several years in the sunshine of Naples, Florida, where she became an avid tennis player in her 60’s. Tennis and fishing were her favorite activities for the next fifteen years or so, until she gave them up to take care of Jim when his health declined.

Soon after Jim passed away in 2017, Sarah herself entered a period of diminishing health, “a place where sorrow can’t be hidden and must only be endured,” in the words of author Donovan McAfee. We can only be glad that she and Jim are together again.

Sarah was predeceased by her husband, James S. McLeod, brothers Sam Franklin and Ed Franklin, and sister Mary Frank Shinall, and one great-grandson, along with three of her favorite pups, Puff, Cassie, and Tinker.

She is survived by three sons, twins Brian (Susan M.) and Barry (Susan L.), and Bruce (Madalyn), seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. Also surviving are sisters-in-law Nancy Spurlin (Jerry) and Ginger Parker (Ed), as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

The family extends a heart-felt “thank you” to the caregivers who loved and tended to Sarah during the last few years of her life: Freddie Patterson, Threata Pullem, Genise Printup, and Pauline Reese. Y’all were great, and we really appreciate all you did.

A memorial service will be conducted at Sam Jones Methodist Church in Cartersville, on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Red Cross, the Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter, or a charity of your choosing.