Hancock County (Georgia) Cemeteries

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Joe David Brown

May 12, 1915 - Apr 22, 1976

Cemetery: Covey Rise Farm Cemetery
Grave 1

Inscription and Notes:

b. Birmingham, AL. d. Covey Rise Farm. Author, Writer, Foreign Correspondent.
"Beloved Husband and Father lies here with his dear 'friend' Sam."
Military Service: World War II
460th Combat Parachute Battalion.
Joe David Brown

Joe David Brown

Joe David Brown was a Time-Life foreign correspondent who won fame in the 1970's for his novel, Paper Moon, which was made into an Oscar-winning film. Another of his stories, Kings Go Forth, led to a movie featuring Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis.

Brown and his wife Frances O'Reilly bought and restored the plantation where the cemetery is located, naming it Covey Rise. He died while still at work on it and was buried here as he had wished.

The conference room at the Sparta-Hancock Library is named for him.

Sources: page 1, Sparta Ishmaelite, March 28, 2002, and Houses of Hancock, by John Rozier, pages 144-146. Information used with permission from John Rozier.