George Gershwin Bess

It all started on June 12, 1966, when George Bess and Sarah Troup Bess finally got the boy they'd been trying so hard to get. Many jokes have been made about them switching up from shopping out of the Montgomery Ward catalog to the Sears and Roebucks catalog. After having four girls, they finally got their boy on Mama's birthday and named him George Gershwin Bess. Most knew him fondly as GB.

He was born in Wheeler County Hospital in Glenwood, Georgia and attended the Wheeler County School System. After graduating from Richard Arnold High School in Savannah, he served his country in the U.S. Army. He then graduated from TESST Institute in Hyattsville, MD with a diploma in Computer Technology in 1991.

GB was truly a people person, made many friends and acquaintances along the way, was an amazing brother, uncle and a good friend to many. He was full of joy and had an awesome sense of humor. GB had a pet name for all of his nieces and nephews, and called all of his nieces "Pretty Girl".

GB had a love of learning and enjoyed reading. He enjoyed his westerns, especially Gunsmoke, and he and Mama also watched countless hours of The Andy Griffith Show. He was an avid fisherman, loved gardening, and knew how to operate and repair almost any machinery and equipment. He was most recently employed as a machine operator at Trane Residential Systems in Vidalia.

George departed this life on September 20, 2025, at St. Joseph/Candler Hospital in Savannah, Georgia after an extended illness. He is preceded in death by his parents George Rufus Bess and Sarah Troup Bess; siblings Robert Bess (Betty), Garreth Stanley, Daryl Wooten, and Algareene Williams (Leroy).

He leaves to mourn one son, Tavis Bess (Brittany) and four grandchildren: George, Giorgio, Gabriel, and Yalayni Sarah. Six sisters: Sheila Bowser (Gerald), Lynise Smith (Donald), Lydia Thomas, Millicent Frazier (Talmadge), Georgene Montgomery, Ava Jones, and one brother, Larry Stanley (Helen) and a host of nieces and nephews. He also leaves behind one very cherished friend and partner in crime, Cynthia Hall. If you ever saw him, you saw her and vice versa. He also leaves behind a very special cousin, Robin Burnette.