Walton Lowell Birdsong

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Posted by: bottomsgardenchapel
Date: Dec 22 2015 3:02 PM

Walton Lowell Birdsong of Hartford, Alabama went to his heavenly home on December 21, 2015 to be reunited with his wife, Elizabeth Ann Birdsong, and a host of friends. Most people simply knew him as “Mr. Walt”.  He had a big smile for everyone, and he loved everyone.  He had a big heart with no apologies for showing people how much he cared about them. 

He was born in Bogart, Georgia on July 10, 1930.  He attended Bogart School until he was in junior high when followed in his brother’s footsteps and transferred to a boarding school in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains called Rabun Gap Nachoochee School.  He graduated with the Class of 1948, and he returned almost every year for homecoming.  His love for Rabun Gap was obvious when you would talk to him about this special place.  After graduation, Walt attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural School in Tifton, Georgia where he graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Agriculture.  After graduation, Walt took to heart what a professor said in one of his classes that “not everyone could have a white collar job, some people had to work”.  

With that mindset, he returned to Geneva County, Alabama where his parents had relocated to his mother’s hometown of Hartford.  When Walt returned, he worked with Dr. Coy Pointevant where he learned to artificially inseminate cattle and be a vet assistant.  Soon thereafter he left the veterinary practice to pursue a career in farming / soil conservation land measurement for program crops such as peanuts and cotton.  He also began a career in artificial insemination of cattle with the American Breeders Service, which he continued for over thirty years. Additionally, he started substituting as a rural mail carrier as a complement to his farming career.  Later in his career, he would go full time with the United States Postal Service where he was named Carrier of the Year for the State of Alabama in 1997.  He retired from the postal service in 1997 after 32 years of dedicated service to return to his love of farming.  He worked to grow Birdsong Farms until his health began to fail him just a few years ago.  In 2007, he was awarded the Robert Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award for Farming Excellence.  He was a member of the Geneva Masonic Lodge, and he was honored with his 50 year pin in 2014.

His hobbies were talking to and loving people, farming and Georgia Bulldog Football.  It is befitting that mascot Bulldog IX also passed away on December 21, 2015.  He was a member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Hartford, Alabama.  He accepted Christ when he was fifteen years old at the school he loved so much, Rabun Gap Nachoochee School, whose motto was “Work, Study, Worship.”

He is preceded in death by his wife of 36 years, Elizabeth Ann Birdsong, and his parents Crawford Quilla and Olney Woodham Birdsong.  His survivors include his son William Birdsong (Becky) of Hartford, daughter Carol Ann Saunders (Jason) of Hartford, and daughter Linda Kay Watson (Lee) of Montgomery. He is also survived by a sister, Ernestine Thomas of Watkinsville, Georgia, and his brother, Henry Birdsong (Mary) of Hartford, Alabama.  His eight grandchildren, his pride and joy, include Shelby, Bailey, and Will Birdsong, Cole and Kyleigh Grace Saunders, all of Hartford AL, Trent, Tyler and Anna Watson of Montgomery Alabama.

His four grandsons will assist with Papa’s escort, and pall bearers will be Bud Brandon, Sammy Sorrells, Gerald Brannon, Steve Brannon, Randall Price and Tony Lee. Honorary Paul bearers will be the staff from Birdsong Farms.

Visitation will be held on December 22, 2015 at Shiloh Baptist Church in Hartford, Alabama from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Services celebrating his life will be held December 23^rd, 2015 at 2:00 p.m., also at Shiloh Baptist Church. 

In addition to thanking all his friends in loving and caring for their father, the family would like to especially thank his friend Anne Willard and the caregivers Nina Powell, Elizabeth McClendon and Jewel Grimes for devoting much time, care, concern and love in making our father’s last days here happy and comfortable.  

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