Jeanette Cotton still expects to see her brother George walking down the street or coming around the corner of the hallway in the home he shared with his mother in southeast Columbus.
“I just keep thinking I’m going to see him walking down the street coming toward me,” she said. “Just coming. (He’ll say) ‘It’s hot out there.’ I’ll say, ‘Yeah, it is hot out there’. He’ll say, ‘When do you need your car fixed?’ … He was just a good-hearted person.”
Willie George Cotton — whose friends called him “Willie Hoop” and whose family called him simply “George” — was born in Noxubee County in 1963. On May 12, his brothers reported him missing to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.
On Monday, his body was found in Luxapalila Creek just inside the city park by the same name. Services for Mr. Cotton were held Saturday afternoon.
Jeanette and her sister Lillie described their younger brother as a friendly, family-oriented person, with a slight mischievous streak. One of more than 10 siblings, he was extremely close with their father, who taught him to drive when he was just 6. Even as a little kid he occasionally took the car for a joyride without their dad knowing about it.
Despite that mischievous streak, he cared about his family and would help out anyone in need.
“He was an upbeat, lively person,” Jeanette said. “If you need something, he’ll give it to you.”
He cooked breakfast for his mother and sister Lillie every morning. Jeanette’s known him to take food to neighbors who were out of money, to paint houses and do roof work for free.
“He always had a good heart,” said George’s younger brother, Roger Cotton.
Every time George went to visit Roger, he would wash Roger’s car — “and do a good job too,” Roger added.
“He would always say, ‘I’m only going to charge you $10,'” Roger said laughing.
Immediately after George’s body was discovered, and continuing through the week, crowds of friends, relatives and neighbors gathered at George’s house to share stories and to speculate on what happened to him.
Possible circumstances
George was at his sister’s home in north Columbus early in the morning on May 10, drinking beer on the porch with a friend. According to what the friend told George’s family, someone in a tan car pulled up to the house. George got off the porch, talked to the person or people in the car briefly, and then got in with them.
The friend couldn’t identify the car and said he didn’t know who was driving — he’d been drinking beer “quite heavily,” Jeanette said.
That was the last time friends and family saw George alive.
Thursday, three days after George’s body was discovered, Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant said his death was most likely an accidental drowning.
“There (were) no traumatic injuries to indicate a homicide,” Merchant said.
Still, Merchant is waiting on results from a toxicology report, which could be weeks. And “accidental drowning” does not have George’s family convinced. His sisters don’t believe he would have intentionally killed himself. Nor do they think he would have drowned.
“He could swim like a fish,” Lillie said.
Seeking answers
Despite his swimming abilities, neither Lillie nor Jeanette think he would have gone swimming in the middle of the night. His back was still hurting from a car accident last month, and he never was one to take long walks unless he was walking to a relative’s house, they said.
Family members say he didn’t like to fish — he didn’t even own a pole.
“Nobody can accept the fact that he went down to Luxapalila Creek,” Jeanette said.
But neither Lillie nor Jeanette can think of a reason anyone who knew him would have wanted him dead. When his body was found, she said, he still had his wallet, so it couldn’t have been a robbery.
He had a “smart mouth”, Jeanette said, which could have angered someone. But he also had a drug and alcohol problem — a serious one.
He had several public drunkenness charges and some other minor charges from the last five years, as well as an aggravated assault charge from nearly 20 years ago, according to Columbus Assistant Police Chief Fred Shelton. His sisters were planning to help get George into a rehab facility in Tupelo, they said.
“He wasn’t an angel, but he was a good person,” Jeanette said.
If his death was foul play, she and Lillie said, his drug problem could have had something to do with it.
‘He loved life’
But for now, all they can do is wait on the toxicology report from the state crime lab in Pearl.
“We just want answers,” Jeanette said.
In the meantime, they have been remembering George — how he used to love dressing up — how he liked wearing his favorite suit and hat — how he was a neat freak — how he loved to cook — how he would sometimes correct preachers on what the Bible said — how much they loved him.
“He loved life,” Jeanette said. “…When somebody loves life like that, you can’t understand why they’re not still here.”
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