Amy Shilon Dodds

Amy Shilon Dodds, 52, of Columbus, GA died Sunday, November 24, 2024 at her residence.

A celebration of life service will be held 3:00 PM, Sunday, December 8, 2024 in the Porter Chapel of 1st Baptist Church. The family will receive friends following the service at the church according to McMullen Funeral Home and Crematory, 3874 Gentian Blvd. Columbus, GA 31907.

On September 11, 1972, Amy Shilon Dodds entered the world of Raymond Earl Dodds and Gloria Jones Dodds and big brothers Brad and Ben. And what an impact she made! For fifty-two years, she was the baby girl of the family, always smiling, always loving, and always thinking of what she could do for others.

Amy grew up with her brothers and the neighborhood kids in Mohina Woods, making lifelong friendships both in the neighborhood and in her classrooms at Clubview Elementary, Richards Junior High, and Hardaway High School, from which she was graduated in 1990.

After attending Columbus College and Columbus Tech, Amy moved to Savannah, GA, where she lived and worked for 20 years. There she began adopting her dog buddies: George, Charlie, Scooter, and more, and it was there that she was married to James Randall Jernigan, who brought with him Amy’s bonus children, Jared and Joseph, who were both under ten years old at the time.

After the end of her marriage, and when her diabetes led to complications, she moved back to her hometown, where she was a bright light to her friends and family. She shared her love for cooking with everyone, and she always had an extra seat available at her table. Her love of music, television, and film (especially “The Sound of Music” and “The Princess Bride”) was unmatched.

Amy was recently welcomed into the Southern Dames of America and the United States Daughters of the War of 1812. She took pleasure in the work of these service organizations. Of special interest to her was supporting Goalball.

Amy was always a daddy’s girl, and she has gone to be reunited with her Daddy, who loved her unconditionally; she was also devoted to her maternal grandfather, Howard Exley Jones, who let her “drive” his car while he worked the pedals, and her maternal grandmother, Hester Louise Danford Jones, who, after five grandsons, welcomed her only granddaughter as “Grandmother’s Walking Doll.” She has also gone to join her paternal grandparents, Raymond Barnhill Dodds and Edna Earl Pearce Dodds, and her former parents-in-law, Jim Jernigan and Theresa Jernigan, whom she loved very much.

Cherishing her life and memory are her mother and “Faux Pa,” Gloria Jones Dodds Johnson and Lamar Johnson, her brothers and sisters-in-law, Bradford Clay Dodds and Marti Reynolds Dodds and Benjamin Lewis Dodds and Theresa Mustacchio Dodds, her nephews and nieces, Amy Margaret Bautista and husband José Bautista, William R. Marano, Meri Claire Marano, Taylor Dodds and wife Anna Bradley Dodds, and Elizabeth Grace Dodds Heins and husband Rob Heins, her Uncle Marshall Dodds and Aunt Vicki Dark Dodds, her Aunt Delores Jones Snellgrove and the late Uncle Bill Snellgrove, her Dodds cousins Mike Dodds and wife Melissa Dodds, Kit McIntyre and husband Bryan McIntyre, and Raymond Brooke Dodds and wife Betsy Dodds, and her Snellgrove cousins Greg Snellgrove and wife Susan Snellgrove, Will Snellgrove, and Matthew Snellgrove and wife Emily Phillips Snellgrove, her sweet grandnieces, Luna, Dani, Blaire, and Ivy, many other cousins, and countless dear friends.

Flowers will be accepted or contributions can be made to Animal Ark Rescue 2509 Manchester Expressway Columbus, GA 31904 or Georgia Blind Sports Association 3316A South Cobb Dr., Suite 157 Smyrna, GA 30080.