Profiles from a tour of the Old Baptist Church Cemetery In Monroe, Georgia

Conducted, Written and provided courtesy Nowell Briscoe ( nowellbriscoe@bellsouth.net )

 IRENE WALKER FIELD, JERE FIELD

Over in the far left corner of this section we come to a lady many people will remember with fondness. No. 8 is Irene Walker Field, daughter of Billington Sanders and Alice Mitchell Walker. She was born June 2, 1885 and married Wade Hampton Field of Cartersville on December 20, 1911. They were parents to daughter Alice Walker Field and son Jere.  “Miss Irene” and Alice lived in the ancestral home of their parents, “Walker Place” until their deaths. With the death of Alice Field, the home was left to her nephew David Field who is in the final stages of renovating the historic home place for his family.  “Miss Irene” was one of three ladies in Monroe who held the esteemed title of postmaster for the city.  Irene held the post longer than anyone, serving Monroe for 29 years. “Miss Irene” died on August 27, 1979.  The other two ladies holding the title were Miss Martha A. Rooks, who later married and become Martha Rooks Schaeffer, holding the office twice and Mrs. Willie Sheets.  One of our last stops will be the grave of Martha Schaeffer, fondly known and remembered by the name “Miss Puss”.

        Across the gravel we come to No. 9, Jere Field, son of Irene Walker Field and Wade Hampton Field, born in Cartersville on August 5, 1917.  He was a 1934 graduate of Monroe High School and received his LL.B from the University of Georgia in 1939.  He began private practice in Monroe in late 1940 and entered the army in 1941 as a private and attaining the rank of First Lieutenant, Infantry.  He returned to Monroe following the war in 1945 renewing his law practice which he continued  until his retirement in 1990.  He was the judge of the Recorder’s Court of Monroe for forty years.  He served as director of the Walton County and Monroe Civil Defense from 1954 to 1960 and was on the Board of Directors for the Monroe Cotton Mills.  He was a deacon of the First Baptist Church, a member of the Rotary Club and a member of the Monroe Golf and Country Club.  He married “Marsie” Florence Moore of Shreveport, La. on March 7, 1943 and they became parents of a son, Jere David Field.

        Jere died on October 18, 1996 at the age of 79 in Charleston, SC where he and Marsie had a seaside home and spent much of their retirement years. Jere was one of the kindest, most sincere people I have ever known and his word was law!  If Jere was your friend, you could have no better. He was one of Monroe’s best; he had to be, having had as his mother “Miss Irene” Walker Field.