Jim Lancaster

April 22, 1923-October 10, 2014

Columbus, Georgia- Jim Lancaster, age 91, resident of Columbus, died on Friday, October 10, 2014 at Spring Harbor. Funeral services are scheduled at Edgewood Hall of Striffler-Hamby, Columbus on Thursday, October 16, 2014, 11 a.m. with Reverend John Fugh officiating. The family will receive friends prior to the service on Thursday, October 16, 2014 from 10-11 a.m. Private interment will follow at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Alabama on Friday, October 17, 2014.

Mr. Lancaster, son of the late C D Lancaster and Lottie Estelle Gearhart Lancaster, was born April 22, 1923 in Bolton, Mississippi. He grew up in rural Mississippi and Louisiana, and after high high school studied aerospace engineering in California for a year before being drafted into the Army in July 1943. During World War II, he served in the 10th Armored Division, a unit of General George Patton's Third Army, in the European Theater. His division was awarded three campaign stars: Ardennes-Alsace (The Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland, and Central Europe. Among his decorations were the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze star and the European Theater of Operations medal with three campaign stars.

After the war, he left the Army and married his hometown sweetheart Mary Ella Smith. They moved to Atlanta where he graduated from The Georgia Institute of Technology in 1949 and began a lifelong career as a mechanical engineer. He was licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE) and worked in that field into his eighties in Atlanta, Tupelo, MS and Birmingham, AL before moving to Columbus in 2010.

Throughout his adult life, he was an avid reader, an accomplished wood craftsman, a designer and an inventor. He had a life long quest for learning and was a strong believer in the importance of education. To share his own history with his children and grandchildren, he wrote and published about living as a young boy in rural Louisiana and Mississippi during the depression in, "When I was a Youth" and about his experience as a tank crewman during World War II in, "When I was a Soldier." In his home workshop shop he designed and built many pieces of fine wooden furniture for his home and family. He was also an inventor and held U.S. patent number 4901863 "A method and apparatus for sorting wood chips" to facilitate making paper.

Mr. Lancaster studied the Bible diligently, and was a faithful Methodist. He taught Sunday School for years in Atlanta and Birmingham, and in Columbus he joined St. Paul United Methodist Church.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Mary Ella Smith Lancaster and a sister, Jean Lancaster. He is survived by one daughter, Emily Stone and her husband Jim of Columbus; one son, Lindsay Lancaster and his wife Elaine of Griffin, Georgia; four brothers, Bobbie Lancaster of New Orleans, Louisiana, C D Lancaster, Jr. and his wife Mary Glynn of Bolton, Mississippi, Billy Lancaster and his wife Kathryn of Jackson, Mississippi, and John Lancaster and his wife Betty of Norman, Oklahoma; four grandchildren, Matthew Stone of Atlanta, Georgia, Katherine Stone of Columbus, Evan Lancaster and his wife Kati of Mobile, Alabama, and Brent Lancaster and his wife Betsy of Atlanta, Georgia; two great-grandchildren, Raybon Lancaster and Jocelyn Lancaster; other relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to Columbus Hospice at www.columbushospice.com. Condolences may be offered at www.shcolumbus.com.