Nada Ruth Emerson Whittington

Nada Ruth Emerson Whittington, 87, of Bainbridge, passed away Wednesday, July 2, 2025.

The funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 6, 2025, at Bryant Funeral Home Chapel with Minister Tim Mahler officiating. A private interment will be held at Oak City Cemetery with Abe Varner, Ben Davis, Mitchell Comerford, Edward Comerford, Tommy Harper, Jr., and Rick Hermann serving as casket bearers.

The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.bryantfuneralga.com. Memorial donations may be made to Bainbridge Church of Christ, PO Box 366, Bainbridge, GA 39818 or Walk to End Alzheimer's, 1030 Boxwood Drive, Bainbridge, GA 39819.

Nada Ruth Emerson was born August 9, 1937, in Athens, AL, the daughter of Rossie & Dezzie Fae Roberts Emerson. The family relocated to Sylvester, Georgia where Nada was a 1956 graduate of Worth County High School.  In 1957 she married the love of her life, Royce Whittington, and took great joy in being a mother. Nada welcomed friends and family in her home graciously and treated Kathy's friends as her own. She was a member of Bainbridge Church of Christ.

Along with Royce, Nada was instrumental in starting a local Genealogy Society in Bainbridge who surveyed the Oak City Cemetery.  She loved bluebirds and went to great measures to have them visit her back yard.  Her interest in family genealogy resulted in travels across the country to visit cemeteries, archives, and libraries, and she corresponded with newly found relatives across the globe.  She loved a cup of hot tea and "Nana's" tea parties were legendary with grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Survivors include her husband of 69 years, Royce Whittington; her children, Kathy & Fields Varner; her grandchildren, Kathryn & Ben Davis and Abe Varner; her great-grandchildren, Claire Emerson Davis, Daniel Fields Davis, and Elliott Scott Varner; her sister, Sadie Collins and numerous special cousins, nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, Nada was preceded in death by her siblings, Gaynelle Hopwood, Luther Emerson, and James Emerson.