Bernie Anderson

BELLVILLE: Bernie David Anderson, 89, passed away peacefully at Ogeechee Area Hospice in Statesboro on April 18, 2026. He grew up in Tattnall County and graduated from Collins High School. He worked at the Coca-Cola plant in Claxton delivering drinks to businesses in Tattnall and Evans County. This led to him opening his own small country store on Kennedy Bridge Road. He then moved to Bellville and founded the “famous” Bernie’s General Store. He employed all his children and grandchildren through the years, along with his granddaughter, Kayleigh Anderson Davis, who has worked by his side for more than twenty years. He also employed many other local Evans and Tattnall County friends, and he loved them all. Through the years he owned Anderson Chrysler Plymouth Dodge, sold insurance with Farm Bureau, and was District Manager for Savannah Morning News. He loved his community, and Pinewood Christian Academy always held a very special place in both his and Hilda’s heart from its beginning. He looked forward to seeing all the children dropping by the store after school. If you asked him how he was doing, he always replied “just about perfect!”.

He is preceded in death by his wife of more than 60 years, Hilda Eason Anderson; his granddaughter, Michelle Anderson Daley; parents, Elder James Lewis Anderson and Mary Louise Jenkins Anderson; sister and brother-in-law, Jeanette and Louis Greene; brother and sister-in-law, Carol and Louise Anderson, and brother Billy Anderson.

SURVIVORS: sons, David (June) Anderson, Brett (Nancy) Anderson, Keith (Kim) Anderson; daughters, Bernice Anderson (Bobby Hamner), Harriett Anderson, Nancy (Brad) McCooey; grandchildren, Sally (James) Lambert, Della (Taylor) O’Brien, Kayleigh (Tim) Davis, Brandon (Taylor) Hamner, Amy Hamner Kraus, Courtney (Benjie) Bell, Brooke (Brett) Coley, Jacob (Catherine) McCooey, Elizabeth McCooey and fourteen great-grandchildren and many special nieces and nephews.

VISITATION: Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at Mellie NeSmith Funeral Home.

FUNERAL: Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 12:00 p.m. at Mellie NeSmith Funeral Home Chapel.

PALLBEARERS: Brandon Hamner, Jacob McCooey, Caden Daley, Heath Smith, Mark Daniel and Craig Gay.

HONARY PALLBEARERS: Bernie’s “Breakfast Club”, Pharris Johnson, Howard Scarborough, Jerry Cox, Roger Moore, Jerry Smith, Tim Young, Steve Kangeter and Rev. Mike Brown, including the late David Groover, Jimmy Rogers and Bobby Schwallenberg.

BURIAL: Anderson Church Cemetery.

REMEMBRANCES: Bellville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 159, Bellville, Ga. 30414, and Ogeechee Area Hospice, 200 Donahoo Street, Statesboro, Ga. 30458.

Mellie NeSmith Funeral Home in charge of arrangements

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