Dr. Sarah Frances Cooley Mason

Sarah was born on May 26th, 1925 in Atlanta, Georgia to Pallie Hudgins and Lewis Robert Cooley, who raised her alongside her three brothers on their small farm. She was born at home and was an unexpected twin to her brother Sam. Upon Sam’s birth, the doctor gathered his belongings to leave the Cooley’s home, only to be flagged down by her father, who hurriedly told the doctor another baby was on the way. Thus, Sarah began her life in a dresser drawer until a second crib could be acquired.

As a young girl, she was known for tagging along on her brothers’ adventures—even when it resulted in a broken arm from a zip-line or temporary blindness from a hard fall. Sarah never shied from the opportunity to fight for her place in a man’s world. She attended Girls High School in Atlanta before graduating Magna Cum Laude in Biology and Chemistry from Agnes Scott College. When Sarah expressed her interest in becoming a nurse to her father, he replied, “Why not a doctor?” Soon after, she took her place alongside the class of 1952 at the Medical College of GA, earning her Doctorate of Medicine. She was one of three women in the graduating class to earn that degree.

Sarah devoted her life to her family in Tennessee. She moved from Atlanta in 1993 and was present for every on-call night, soccer game, and violin practice. She cherished her daughter by loving and caring for her grandchildren. She was lovingly known as “Mimaw” by family and friends alike, and her fanbase grew as her grandchildren did.

Sarah was a devoted physician, mother, wife, sister, twin, daughter, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, dog-mom, and friend. She is preceded in death by her husband (Hall Mason), her parents (Pallie Hudgins and Robert Lewis Cooley), and her brothers (Lewis, Sam, Joe, and John Robert Cooley). She is survived by her daughter (Beth Gilley), her son-in-law (Jerry Gilley), her grandchildren (Sarah and Graham Gilley), and her great-grand-daughters (Emmerson Gilley and a new little girl due in mid November) as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Sarah was a beloved member of First United Methodist Church of Maryville.

Sarah passed at home on Oct 24th surrounded by her family, at the age of 99 years and 4 months old.

“I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down. The new shoots are stronger and livelier than ever. I am rising, I know, toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. . . I breathe, at this hour, the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and it is history.” - Victor Hugo (Written in Hall’s hand in a letter to Sarah, prior to his death).

There will be a private graveside service at Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Ga on Jan 11, 2025. At a later date in Spring 2025 there will be celebration of life with details to be announced soon.