Tom Dalton Bledsoe

Tom Dalton Bledsoe, Sr., 80, long time resident of Georgia, died peacefully at his home in Cohutta on February 15, 2023, after a lengthy illness. Tom was born in Carrollton, Georgia on July 23, 1942, and was the son of the late Johnson Dalton and Mary Doris (Dot) Cooley Bledsoe. Throughout his childhood, his family lived in numerous towns in Georgia and Florida following his father’s work in the construction industry. He graduated from Headland High School in East Point, Georgia and earned a B.A. in English from Georgia State College. During high school and college, he played drums in several rock and roll bands, worked construction with his dad, and he was active in ROTC at Georgia State.

Acting on his call to ministry, he enrolled in New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1965, graduating in 1967 with a Th.M. On June 25,1966, he married Donna Lee Shores in New Orleans, beginning the first of 57 years of marriage. On December 25, 1966, he was ordained by Dogwood Hills Baptist Church in East Point.

He later earned an M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Georgia State University. He pastored a number of churches throughout Georgia and one in South Carolina. He also was a licensed marriage and family therapist and used these skills as the Minister of Counseling for the First Baptist Church of Douglasville in addition to providing marriage and family therapy in private practice. Later, he spent five years as a mental health therapist in South Carolina. He was instrumental in establishing the northwest chapter of the Georgia Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Tom was known as a teaching minister, and he used his gift for teaching in schools as well as in the church. He taught elementary, high school, and college and was a counselor for two high schools. His love of reading and writing led him to write regular columns for several newspapers, including a column entitled Family Counseling (later Family Living) for the Douglas County Sentinel. In recent years, he and his wife have been members of First Baptist Church of Dalton.

Tom enjoyed travel, fishing, gardening, and drawing/painting. But most of all, he loved to spend time with his children and grandchildren.

He is pre-deceased by his parents, Doris (Dot) Bledsoe and Johnson Dalton (JD) Bledsoe; a granddaughter, Annie Ruth Bledsoe; and brothers-in-law, Timothy Barton, and Ted Spears.

Survivors include his wife: Donna Lee Bledsoe; children: Tom (Beth) Bledsoe, Jonathan (Ginny) Bledsoe, Jennifer (Mike) Connors; 12 grandchildren: Lauren Bledsoe, Nicole (Josh) Smoker, Noah (Abby) Bledsoe, Will (Haley) Brock, Ian Bledsoe, Millie Bledsoe, Charlotte Bledsoe, Henry Bledsoe, Paxton Bledsoe, Jaylin Connors, Hunter Connors, and Isla Connors; sisters: Mary Regina Spears, Sally Jo Ann (Mike) Smith, and Kathy Denise Barton; and many nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends at First Baptist Church of Dalton on Friday, February 17 ^th , from 12:30p.m. until 2:00p.m. with the funeral at 2:00p.m.

Those who wish to remember Tom in a special way may make gifts in his memory to the Whitfield Healthcare Foundation to benefit Hamilton Home Health and Hospice or Peeples Cancer Institute, or to the First Foundation c/o First Baptist Church of Dalton.