Veterans Honored During Annual Veterans Day Ceremony at Whispering Hills Natural Cemetery

More than one-hundred veterans, friends and family members braved a chilly afternoon at Whispering Hills to pay tribute to all veterans, including the decorated military service of U.S. Air Force veteran Jim Codlin, a longtime LaGrange resident, and U.S. Marine Reservist Kelly Hudson of Hogansville.

Both Codlin and Hudson were laid to rest earlier this year at Whispering Hills Natural Cemetery and Memorial Nature Preserve.

Veteran Affairs Chaplain Derrel Hughes, who provides spiritual support to veterans and their families through VA outpatient clinics in Georgia, opened the special Veterans Day celebration with the invocation.

The Troup County High School Junior ROTC Color Guard presented the American flag as Kevin Dunn sang the national anthem.

“I had goosebumps during the national anthem in this beautiful place. Veterans Day just means so much. I’ve lost loved ones and comrades on the battlefield,” noted Chaplain Hughes, who served in the Air Force. “This is a day where all veterans can come together for healing and remembrance.”

“I’m so happy to see more veterans and their families venturing past the white fences here along Mooty Bridge Road and discovering Whispering Hills and a peacefulness like nowhere else,” Dunn shared with a smile. “I can see the patriotism throughout this crowd here today.”

Ralph Howard, founder and managing partner of Whispering Hills, greeted attendees gathered at the natural cemetery he first opened in April 2021 to provide families an affordable final resting place and to help protect 140 acres of cherished land for future generations. Whispering Hills offers burial options in a forest, flower-filled meadows, and along streams and trails throughout the preserve.

“We are here to honor all veterans on this special day and to present an official U.S. Air Force service medallion to the family and friends of Jim Codlin,” Howard announced to the crowd. “This service medal represents the life-saving impact Jim had on his Air Force missions over Vietnam, and he certainly left a life-changing mark and legacy on our community as well.”

Keynote speaker Ann Erenheim, a U.S. Army Veteran, who deployed to Iraq during Desert Storm and Desert Shield as a military paralegal, gave a thumbs up to the dozens of veterans in the crowd and shared her perspective as a veteran who officially retired from military service in 2011 but never stopped serving.

“Today’s weather is only a fitting reminder as we commemorate the sacrifices our veterans make each and every day in the cold winds and the arid heat in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,” noted Erenheim, who has volunteered for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization for the past 14 years. “In the midst of everything happening in this world, men and women decide to take an oath and serve with a passion, because you matter, your freedom matters.”

U.S. Army veteran Tania Griffin presented the Air Force service medallion to Terri Codlin, veteran Jim Codlin’s wife, who honored all veterans and recalled growing up as an “Army brat.” She also recounted one of her husband’s heroic and life-saving missions during his six-year stint as an Air Force Lieutenant and Navigator during the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1975.

“During a ground-fire attack on his C-130 transport plane, Jim was able to navigate the aircraft into the safety of cloud cover and save not only his own crew, but most probably many others that day,” Terri shared. “Jim never mentioned this encounter to me back then. He was just doing his job. And for just doing his job, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, something else he never shared with his family and friends. That award was filed away with all of his other military records, and he moved on with his life.”

The couple moved from Illinois to LaGrange, Georgia in 1981, with their 10-year-old son Craig and six-year-old daughter Meredith, when Jim joined railroad equipment supplier Trackmobile as international sales manager. Fresh from Montessori training in Chicago, Terri began teaching three-to-six-year-olds at the Montessori School in LaGrange.

“With ten days to prepare for the start of classes, I noticed my classroom didn’t have a hand and dish washing stand, so Jim built one before he started his new job. And that wash stand is still there to this very day,” Terri recalled with a chuckle. “He was a man of many talents. He was a writer and an intense life learner who never tired of diving deep into topics like space, physics, architecture.”

Jim learned as much as he could about prostate cancer, when he was first diagnosed at the age of 64 in 2001, just before he retired from Trackmobile. “He beat that cancer and for ten years he was free and clear of the disease,” Terri remembers. But doctors discovered the prostate cancer had returned about three years ago.

In May of last year, Jim and Terri Codlin left their beloved LaGrange and moved to New York City, just a few blocks from their daughter Meredith’s home, to give Jim his best shot at battling the spreading cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

On February 22, 2025, the world lost a great navigator, who quietly forged his path as a dedicated husband, father, grandfather, friend, businessman, and a life-saving veteran.

“Before we moved to New York, Jim and I had the difficult but important discussion about final arrangements, and our whole family agreed that LaGrange will always be our home,” Terri tearfully recalled. “Neither one of us wanted a traditional cemetery, and my daughter and I went to Whispering Hills and found the perfect spot. It reminded us of looking out from our back porch into the trees near the lake where we lived, and I will join Jim here when my time comes.”

Following Terri’s emotional remarks, Nick and Anna Mayfield led the group sing of America, My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, a special part of the ceremony that the local artists have enjoyed participating in since the first Veterans Day event at Whispering Hills in 2023. “We wouldn’t miss this event for the world,” said Nick, a well-known musician who loves to give back. “We love music and we are so thankful for our veterans,” Anna added, “So this is a wonderful way to enjoy both in such a peaceful place.”

Bugler LaZette Reich, tucked behind the trees, broke the moment of silence with a heartwarming rendition of taps that echoed through the memorial nature preserve and brought many attendees to patriotic tears at the emotional close to the ceremony.

Codlin, flanked by veterans and joined by dozens of friends and Montessori students, walked the short trail from the meadow to her husband’s final resting place, where she placed the Air Force service medallion on a tribute stone marking his grave.

“Jim would’ve said he didn’t deserve all this, but no doubt he would be so thankful for the unbelievable love of the community here today,” Terri tearfully shared. “This wonderful ceremony is exactly what I needed. Thanks to everyone here in this beautiful place.”

One of the few times Jim Codlin did talk about the Vietnam War was to share some of his experiences with the seventh and eighth graders at Hillside. “That meant a lot to him back then, and I know it would mean the world to Jim to know Hillside Montessori’s current seventh and eighth graders came here today to pay tribute to him and all veterans.”

“I’ve known Mr. and Mrs. Codlin through school since I was really little, and they’ve definitely been such a big part of the community that has raised me and lots of others in my class,” shared Hillside Montessori eighth grader Sophia Rigsby following the ceremony. “It’s amazing to see so many people come together to honor our veterans and care so much about Jim and Terri Codlin, who helped build our school,” Sophia said, referring to the primary education wing that bears the family name at the Codlin Children’s House.

“I wasn’t prepared for how powerful this ceremony would be,” noted Bethany Headrick, Hillside Montessori’s Head of School. “These students are happy to be here in honor of Jim and Terri Codlin. They’re definitely old enough to understand the magnitude of what the veteran’s commitment and sacrifice means. They’re also so thankful for Terri, who flies down once a month from New York to spend a week with them at the school.”

The students were among the many fans of Maureen Gay’s homemade Veterans Day cake, that disappeared shortly after the ceremony. “I have a lot of military in my family, and I truly enjoy baking a special cake for this wonderful Veterans Day celebration at Whispering Hills,” Gay said with a big grin. “There wasn’t a single piece left this year,” she laughed.

Local veterans and families of area veterans passed filled the meadow to honor their loved ones. Mark and Michelle Hudson of Hogansville were in the crowd to remember their son Kelly, a Marine Reservist who died in April and is buried near his stillborn daughter Ava, who he laid to rest in August of last year.

And while they declined to speak at the podium during the event, they were thankful for the ceremony in honor of Jim Codlin, their son, and all veterans.

“It was such an emotional celebration. We feel honored and know Kelly would too. Kelly really loved this place, the quietness and the trails, Michelle Hudson recalled. “He picked this spot overlooking the stream for his daughter, and now Kelly’s here with his little girl in this beautiful forest.”

For more information about Whispering Hills Natural Green Cemetery and Memorial Nature Preserve, visit www.whisperinghillspreserve.com.