Atlanta Journal Atlanta, GA June 19, 1998 COSBY Mr. Charles R. Cosby, 98, of College Park, died June 17, 1998. He was born January 4, 1900 in Washington, GA and was reared in Atlanta. Mr. Cosby served in WWI and WWII and served as Quartermaster and State Commander of WWI Veterans and Retreads (WWI and WWII veterans). He was a charter member/board of director of the Dekalb Memorial Athletic Association. He retired from Southern Railway after 30 years of service. He is a member of Liberty Baptist Church of Riverdale. He was a very devoted father to his family. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis of 52 years of College Park; a son, Russell A. Cosby of Stone Mountain; daughters and sons-in-law, Valerie and Phil Crosby of Stockbridge, Angela and Robert House of Columbus, GA; grandsons, Jeremy and Nathan Crosby and Andres and Brandon House; several nieces and a nephew. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, June 20 at Tara Garden Chapel, Rev. Ken Davidson, officia- ting. Interment Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens with full military honors. Visitation will be 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Thomas L. Scoggs, Tara Garden Chapel. Jonesboro. 770-471-7171. Atlanta Journal Atlanta, GA June 20, 1998 CHARLES R. COSBY, 98, RAILROAD WORKER, VETERAN By Joel Groover Staff Writer Charles R. Cosby, 98, longed for the days before smog alerts and traffic jams, when most Americans traveled by train. The College Park resident, who worked for Southern Railway for 30 years, always said the railroad was in his blood. Through a steady stream of terse letters to Am- trak and U.S. government officials, Mr. Cosby did what he could to restore the railroads to their former glory. "That was his goal," said his wife, Phyllis Cosby of College Park. "He was forever typing. Sometimes he would type all day long, just like he was being paid-- and he didn't write the letters too kind, either. He want- ed to shake people up." The funeral for Mr. Cosby will be at 11 a.m. today at Tara Garden Chapel. He died of kidney failure Wednes- day at Southern Regional Medical Center. Born in Washington, Ga., Mr. Cosby, whose father was a yard master with Southern Railway, moved with his family to Atlanta as a child. He attended Tech High School and Boys High School and served in Florida during World War I. "He had a job waiting for him at Southern Railway after the war," his wife said. "He started as a clerk and made his living by typing. The last job he had was the one he liked best. Trains would get lost in the rail yard and he had the job of huntin them down to see where they were." Mr. Cosby was drafted into the Army during World War II. He returned to Southern Railway after serv- ing in New Guinea and the Philippines and retired in 1971. Mr. Cosby was state commander of the Retreads, an organization for veterans of both wars. He also was state commander of the World War I Veterans and kept track of the group's dwindling member- ship as quartermaster. He began his one-man campaign for trains several years ago, his wife said. "A lot of peo- ple he wrote to agreed with him," she said. "But they would say that they were only one person and that there was nothing they could do." Survivors other than his wife include a son, Russell A. Cosby of Stone Mountain; two daughters, Valerie Crosby of Stockbridge and Angela House of Columbus; and four grand- children.