James Cowan ' 'Jay Caughran

James Cowan Caughran, best known as Jay, passed away Sunday evening at his residence.

Jay was the son of the late James Nimrod and Sammie Lou Woodward Caughran. He spent his early life in Holly Grove where he attended school at the one room school. Going on to graduate from high school in Belfast, he studied art for two years with a private teacher, then took an art course at the Harris Art School in Nashville. Returning from Nashville, he drove a peddling truck for his fathers general merchandising store.

In January 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, AZ, serving his country during World War II. He returned home at the end of the war in Dec. 1945.

Cowan went on to attend photography school in Chattanooga, and built Caughrans Business and Rooming House, and also had Sec Sue Photography Studio in Lewisburg. After selling the business, he moved to his current residence where he had become a well-known art and antique collector.

He will be missed by many, including a very good friend of 35 years, Odie Whitehead, Jr. of Lewisburg, and three cousins.

Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 PM from the chapel of Bills McGaugh Funeral Home, officiated by Rev. Claude McMillion and Rev. Bill Taylor. Interment will follow in Head Springs Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be George Bradley, John Bradley, Bill Henson, Shane Bradford, Bobby Webb, Jeff Ellis, Johnny E. Brown, and Sidney Mayberry. Honorary pallbearers will be Beulah Wilson, Ada Mae Webb, Rhonda Webb, Jimmie Phelps, Roy & Maxine Petty, Karen Ellis, Nancy Bradley, Tammy Bradley, Kathy Madeo, Martha Francis Brown, Bill Petty, Nona McBride, Grace Pierce, Joe & Melanie Gordon, Allie Mae Ray, and Robert & Evelyn Tucker.

Friends and family will visit at Bills McGaugh Funeral Home from 4:00 8:00 PM on Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11:00 AM until the funeral hour.

Bills McGaugh Funeral Home and the United States Forest Service have provided for the planting of a tree in Jays memory.