CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — Friends, family, and community members gathered to remember the life of a Carroll County deputy on Monday afternoon. Deputy Jody Smith died at the age of 49 after a battle with COVID, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office announced Friday night.
The sheriff's office said it was "heartbroken" after the passing of Deputy Smith, who is described as a "kind and gentle soul." Funeral services were held at Crumley’s Chapel Church of God in Heflin, Alabama.
Bro. Chad Morris, Lt. Richard Harrison, and Bro. Kyle Morrow were officiating the service. Harrison said Smith is in a better place and his pain is over.
"See, Jody won," Harrison said. "See I had COVID back in November but I still suffer from the effects of COVID. But Jody has total healing today. He has victory today."
Harrison said while Smith may have won, Carroll County has lost a role model.
"Although we know he is healed and with his savior, we are heartbroken for those left behind, his family, blood and blue, his friends, and all the lives he has touched during his 8 years with us at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office," the sheriff's office said on Facebook.
Members of the Carroll County Sheriffs Department served as pallbearers. Interment followed in the church's cemetery.
The sheriff's office asked people who were attending the service to consider wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.
"Whenever you would see Jody he would always be smiling or laughing because he was just a happy person, and that exuded through his work, and should be evident by the love his community has shown he and his family these past few days," the sheriff's office said. "We don’t know and understand why God called him home at the young age of 49, but we do know one thing is certain, he got one of the 'good ones' today."