Atlanta Journal
Atlanta, GA
June 19, 1998
COSBY
Mr. Charles R. Cosby, 98, of College Park, died June 17, 1998. He was
born January 4, 1900 in Washington, GA and was reared in Atlanta.
Mr. Cosby served in WWI and WWII and served as Quartermaster and
State Commander of WWI Veterans and Retreads (WWI and WWII
veterans). He was a charter member/board of director of the Dekalb
Memorial Athletic Association. He retired from Southern Railway after
30 years of service. He is a member of Liberty Baptist Church of
Riverdale. He was a very devoted father to his family. He is survived
by his wife, Phyllis of 52 years of College Park; a son, Russell A.
Cosby of Stone Mountain; daughters and sons-in-law, Valerie and
Phil Crosby of Stockbridge, Angela and Robert House of Columbus,
GA; grandsons, Jeremy and Nathan Crosby and Andres and Brandon
House; several nieces and a nephew. Funeral services will be 11 a.m.
Saturday, June 20 at Tara Garden Chapel, Rev. Ken Davidson, officia-
ting. Interment Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens with full military honors.
Visitation will be 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Thomas
L. Scoggs, Tara Garden Chapel. Jonesboro. 770-471-7171.
Atlanta Journal
Atlanta, GA
June 20, 1998
CHARLES R. COSBY, 98, RAILROAD WORKER, VETERAN
By Joel Groover
Staff Writer
Charles R. Cosby, 98, longed for the days before smog
alerts and traffic jams, when most Americans traveled by
train.
The College Park resident, who worked for Southern
Railway for 30 years, always said the railroad was in his
blood. Through a steady stream of terse letters to Am-
trak and U.S. government officials, Mr. Cosby did what
he could to restore the railroads to their former glory.
"That was his goal," said his wife, Phyllis Cosby of
College Park. "He was forever typing. Sometimes he
would type all day long, just like he was being paid--
and he didn't write the letters too kind, either. He want-
ed to shake people up."
The funeral for Mr. Cosby will be at 11 a.m. today at
Tara Garden Chapel. He died of kidney failure Wednes-
day at Southern Regional Medical Center.
Born in Washington, Ga., Mr. Cosby, whose father
was a yard master with Southern Railway, moved with
his family to Atlanta as a child. He attended Tech High
School and Boys High School and served in Florida
during World War I.
"He had a job waiting for him at Southern Railway
after the war," his wife said. "He started as a clerk
and made his living by typing. The last job he had
was the one he liked best. Trains would get lost in
the rail yard and he had the job of huntin them down
to see where they were."
Mr. Cosby was drafted into the Army during World
War II. He returned to Southern Railway after serv-
ing in New Guinea and the Philippines and retired
in 1971.
Mr. Cosby was state commander of the Retreads,
an organization for veterans of both wars. He also
was state commander of the World War I Veterans
and kept track of the group's dwindling member-
ship as quartermaster.
He began his one-man campaign for trains
several years ago, his wife said. "A lot of peo-
ple he wrote to agreed with him," she said.
"But they would say that they were only one
person and that there was nothing they
could do."
Survivors other than his wife include a son,
Russell A. Cosby of Stone Mountain; two
daughters, Valerie Crosby of Stockbridge and
Angela House of Columbus; and four grand-
children.