COLUMBUS, GA. (WRBL) -- Monday morning, family, friends, elected officials, and sorority sisters said goodbye to a woman who made a huge impact in Columbus.
Former city Councilor Evelyn Turner Pugh was remembered in a funeral service at Revelation Missionary Baptist Church.
It was packed inside the church. And as Pastor Valerie Thompson put it, people were there because they loved and respected Pugh, a daughter of Columbus who worked to make her hometown a better place.
Pugh died July 10th after years of fighting Parkinson’s Disease. The illness was never mentioned during the service. Instead, they talked about the way that Pugh lived -- not the way she died.
Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson called her his hero. Congressman Sanford Bishop, state Sen. Ed Harbison, and Representative Calvin Smyre remembered her decades of community service.
Pugh served 30 years on the city council before retiring in 2019. She volunteered for many community organizations and was active in her sorority – Delta Sigma Theta.
Her pastor and dear friend – Valerie Thompson – says Pugh lived her faith.
“She wouldn’t have wanted a sad time, even though we are grieving, and we are moaning," Thompson said. "But Evelyn was a person who had joy. Her spirit was like none other. And like I said during the time in the service, is she would be happy when she was here. She would clap. So, I believe this has been a joyous celebration. A wonderful home going for a wonderful lady.”
The service would have pleased Pugh, her friend and co-councilor Mimi Woodson said.
"She would have been very, very pleased – very excited," Woodson said. "Because it was to the point, and short. And everyone who needed to be here for her today was here.”
Pugh was buried at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery. Pugh was 71 years old.
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