Josiah Blasingame

Brigadier General Josiah Blasingame Jr. Retired, of Jersey, GA passed away Saturday, June 8, 2013 at Emory Hospital. He was 80 years old. Josiah Josie was born in Walton County, Georgia, raised in Jersey and attended Monroe High School. At North Georgia College he majored in physics and graduated cum laude in 1954. In his senior year he was the Commander of the Corps of Cadets and a Distinguished Military Student. He was commissioned regular army in the Signal Corps and assigned three separate times to the 3rd Armored Division in Europe, serving as platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander and brigade commander. Schooling included a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston (1963), Command and General Staff College (1967), and the US Army War College (1974). Other assignments were in Vietnam, Europe and Washington, D.C. including two with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Josiah completed his career as Commander of the White House Communications Agency under the administrations of Presidents Carter and Reagan (1978-81). Upon leaving the US Army he was Vice President for a satellite communications company in Atlanta which was later purchased by Sprint. He then worked as Group Vice President with National Data Corporation with responsibility for its voice centers throughout the United States and Canada (1983-89). In 1995 he retired to Monroe. After retirement, he was active in the North Georgia College Foundation and was a Trustee Emeritus; president of the North Georgia College and Statue University Alumni Association; on the Board of Directors of the McDaniel-Tichenor House of the Georgia Trust, and active in the Historic Preservation Commission for the City of Monroe, and the Citizen Review Panel for the Juvenile Court of Walton County. Josiah and his wife Carol, the former Carol M. Crone, daughter of the late Colonel and Mrs. Charles F. Crone, moved to Lanier Village Estates in Gainesville, Georgia in 2011 where Carol still resides. He is also survived by his children Josiah Jay Blasingame III and Joanne Jody Blasingame Harris, and four grandchildren: Christy Dawn Kirkpatrick, Elise Nicole Blasingame, Noah Crittenden Harris, and Josiah Powell Harris. A memorial service for Gen. Blasingame, Jr. will be held on Saturday, June 29, 2:00 p.m. at Lanier Village Chapel, 4000 Village View Drive, Gainesville, GA 30506. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Corps of Cadets through the UNG Foundation - Dahlonega, PO Box 1599, Dahlonega, GA 30533, or https://www.northgeorgia.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=202



Funeral Home:
A.S. Turner
2773 N. Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033