CAPT. GEORGE A. COOLEY

SEDGEWICKVILLE -- Capt. George A. Cooley III, 73, of Sedgewickville, died Monday, March 2, 1992, in Cape Girardeau.

He was born Aug. 3, 1918, in Milton, Fla., son of George A. and Mamie L. Nugent Cooley II. He married Josephine Tanner March 30, 1942, who died Oct. 20, 1989. He then married Carolyn Pigg Loberg Jan. 28, 1991.

Cooley was a riverboat captain 53 years. For the past 15 years he was an operating contact pilot, and held an unlimited master pilot's license. He was a member of Cherry Road Baptist Church and Angerona Lodge in Memphis, Tenn., was a Shriner and 32nd Degree Mason.

Survivors include his wife; three stepsons, Steve Gills of Moberly, Randall and Thomas Gills of Jackson; two stepdaughters, Debra Chatman of Dexter, Diana Maryatt of Tucker, Ark.; three sisters, Martha Keeze and Irene Brewer of Mobile, Ala., Marie Paterson of Ocala, Fla.; a foster son, John Layden of Chesapeake, Va.; 10 stepgrandchildren; three foster grandchildren, and a foster great-granddaughter.

He was preceded in death by a brother.

Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson. The Rev. Howard Miller will officiate, with burial in Garden of Memories Cemetery at Sedgewickville.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 4-8 p.m. Thursday. A Masonic service will be held at 7:30.