William Jasper Carden Jr

Mr. William Jasper "Bill" Carden, Jr., 85, retired manager for Bell South and AT&T and resident of Woods Drive, died Friday, February 15, 2008, at Life Care Center. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 P.M. Monday at Riverside United Methodist Church with Rev. Gary Wedgewood officiating. Burial will be in Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19. The family will visit with friends Sunday from 4:00 - 8:00 P.M. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home and Monday from 12:00 - 1:00 P.M. at the church. A Masonic service will be held at 7:00 P.M. Sunday. Memorials may be made to the Gideon's International, P. O. Box 663, Columbia, TN 38402. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. A native of Rome, Georgia, he was the son of the late William Jasper Carden, Sr. and Ocie Rush Carden. He was a graduate of Chattanooga Central High School and served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. Mr. Carden was a long-time member of Riverside United Methodist Church. His civic and community activities included membership in the Columbia Lions Club, Gideons International, Maury Regional Hospital Auxiliary, Telephone Pioneers, Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19, Vertans of Foreign Wars, and Columbia Masonic Lodge #31. Survivors include his wife of sixty-one years, Kathryn Pappas "Poppie" Carden of Columbia; two sons, William J. (Jacalyn) Carden, III of Leesburg, Virginia; Charles T. (Diana) Carden of Chattanooga; four grandchildren, Kelly Ashton Carden, Kyle Matthew Carden, Christopher Shane Posey, Eric Bradley Posey; and five great grandchildren, Kari Alexandria "Alex" Posey, Amber Posey, Ryan Posey, Caden Posey, and Kailey Posey. Pallbearers will be Clyde Yeager, Arch Patterson, Jimmy Cranford, Marion Davis, Joe Foust, Jack Gillespie, Donny Walters, J. W. Nicholas and Gene Woodard. Honorary pallbearers include members of the Columbia Lions Club, Gideon's, Telephone Pioneers and Jim Hewgley Sunday School Class of Riverside United Methodist Church.