Cody Smith Callahan

1960 - 2022

Cody Smith Callahan, 61, a resident of Cumming, Georgia, passed away June 14, 2022, at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cody was born in Atlanta, Georgia, at Crawford Long Hospital and grew up in Jonesboro. She graduated from Jonesboro High School and briefly attended Clayton State College before beginning her career with the Federal Trade Commission. After work as a grand jury clerk with the U.S. District Court, Cody took a brief hiatus to have children, after which she also worked as a flight attendant before returning to work in the federal government.

While in the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Cody started out working as a receptionist and eventually became a lead legal assistant. After a tour as the legal assistant for a United States Magistrate Judge, and after working for the law firm of Alston & Bird, Cody obtained her paralegal certificate and returned to the United States Attorney's Office as a Trial Paralegal. In that capacity she assisted with criminal trials in the violent crimes division, helping ensure convictions of some of the worst of the worst criminals, while at the same time always providing the utmost sensitivity to witnesses and victims of crime.

Cody retired from the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2014. Upon retiring she threw herself into her friends, her children, and her grandchildren, moving to North Forsyth County to be closer to them. Cody found a home at Browns Bridge Church and began serving with Guest Services and as a receptionist. She also found community and friends over knitting and books and enjoyed hiking with Sandy and going trout fishing with him in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After her initial diagnosis of an extremely rare cancer in 2015, Cody enjoyed a period of remission before returning to the fight in 2019. She fought bravely and courageously and was steadfast until the very end.

Cody is survived by her husband of 27 years, William S. ("Sandy") Callahan; her daughter, Abigail (Brandon) Yow, of Hoover, Alabama; her son Mitch Dean, of Brooklyn, New York; her grandchildren Emerson, Mary Hubbard, and Molly Yow of Hoover, Alabama; her brother, Steve Smith, of Rabun Gap, Georgia, and her father, Donald N. Smith, of Hampton, Georgia. She was preceded in death by her mother, Connie Smith.

A memorial service will be held on Thursday, June 23, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. at Browns Bridge Church, 3860 Browns Bridge Road, Cumming, Georgia, 30041 (www.brownsbridge.org). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Leukemia And Lymphoma Society, www.lls.org, 1.800.955.4572. An avid reader, memorials may also be made to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, www.imaginationlibrary.com. Godspeed, my Warrior.

Ingram Funeral Home, 210 Ingram Ave, Cumming, GA is in charge of arrangements.

Condolences may be expressed online at ingramfuneralhome.com.