Mrs. Leah Y. Monk

July 19, 1921 - July 5, 2020

Leah Yarborough Monk, age 98, passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 5, 2020 at home in Sylvester, Georgia. She was born July 19, 1921 in Albany, Georgia. While a student at Albany High School, Leah excelled at basketball, acrobatics, and dance. She attended Valdosta State University and later worked as secretary to the Executive Officer at Turner Field in Albany. She is survived by Ridley Monk, her husband of over seventy-two years, their four children, Sue Monk Kidd (Sanford), Wade Monk (Gayle), Bob Monk (Ann), and Don Monk (Karon), eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Her life exemplified her deeply held belief that the true measure of life is the good one does for others. For over sixty years she worked in the nursery of First Baptist Church in Sylvester, bestowing love on children. She sewed baby blankets and layettes for countless newborns, as well as lap quilts for nursing home residents. She spent many years as a Cub Scout, Brownie Scout, and Girl Scout leader, as well as a pink lady at Phoebe Worth Hospital, where she became known as the Rose Lady for bringing roses from her garden to the patients. She found her greatest purpose in family, motherhood grandmother-hood, and the making of a home. Named Mother of the Year by the Sylvester Woman’s Club, she embodied the title throughout her life. As a quintessential cookie maker, she delighted in baking life-size bunny cookies every Easter for seventy years for her family. Her legacy is her enduring goodness. She loved deeply, gave generously, and lived with an abiding sense of joy on the family farm. Each day, she repeated a prayer that her mother wrote, which concluded with the line, “I thank God for every good thing.” There will be private family memorial service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Best Friends Humane Society in Sylvester, Georgia.