Mr. Jack Sweat, age 91 beloved husband of the late Grace Keene Sweat of Soperton passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon, October 20, 2018 at the Treutlen County Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Funeral services will be at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 in the Chapel of Sammons Funeral Home with Reverend Mark Sweat officiating.

Mr. Sweat will be laid to rest beside his wife in Westview Cemetery.

His family will receive friends on Monday from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at Sammons Funeral Home.

Born in Treutlen County, he was one of nine children born to the late Johnnie Washington and Minnie Lee Morris Sweat.   At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the U. S. Army. While serving on active duty, he married Laurens County native Grace Marie Keene. The newlyweds traveled to and lived in various cities around the world as Mr. Sweat completed 21 years of active duty. Upon being honorably discharged in 1966 the Sweats returned to Soperton where he and his brother, Douglas, fulfilled an ambition by opening and operating Sweat's Bar-be-Que. Their business became widely recognized and a regular stopping and gathering place for weary I-16 travelers as well as the local area residents. Mr. Sweat continued to operate the business until 1991. In 1992 he joined the staff of Sammons Funeral Home where he became an expected figure greeting visitors and families until retiring in 2015.

He and his wife had been longtime members at the First Baptist Church where Mr. Sweat was a member of the R. A. Perry Sunday School Class.

In addition to his wife and parents, he is preceded in death by brothers, Douglas, Mercer, Willard, Cecil, Russell and a sister, Ruby Nell Edge.

He leaves behind his children, Lee Jackson Sweat Jr. (Sandy), Baxley, GA, Cindy Buonamia (Nick), Lilburn, GA, a brother, Myron F. "Mike" Sweat (Kathy), Dublin, GA, a sister, Allene Williams, Statesboro, GA, grandchildren, Jackie Brauninger (Matt), Grace Dubsky (Sean), Jackson Buonamia (Jennifer), Christopher Buonamia (Julie), Ryan Buonamia (Will), Timmy Buonamia (Carrington), great grandchildren, Brayden, Evie, Henry, Thomas, Vivian, Kaia, Teddy and many niece and nephews.

Serving as pallbearers will be: Jack Tillman, Brandon Holmes, Matt Sweat, Scotty Edge, Marty Edge and Josh Edge.

The members of his Sunday School Class will serve as honorary pallbearers.