James Longstreet Sibley "Sibbo" Jennings, Jr.

James Longstreet Sibley Jennings, Jr., known succinctly as Sibbo to many, passed away at his home in Macon, GA on 31 March 2016, aged seventy-four years. He spent his final hours listening intently to Tchaikovsky and surrounded by family. Mr. Jennings was born on 27 October 1941 to J.L. Sibley Jennings, Sr. and Ernestine Moore Jennings in Milledgeville, GA. He graduated from Georgia Military College in 1959, was heavily lectured by Carl Vinson on his upcoming life, and started at Georgia Tech mere days later in the architecture program. After graduating from Georgia Tech, he continued to study architecture in England, returned to the United States, and built a career at the confluence of architecture and history. Mr. Jennings worked for a number of years at the U.S. State Department on a number of remarkable projects such as the Ishibashi residence in Japan which was desecrated during the occupation. He was an architect of record who executed many sensitive historical restorations along the Eastern Seaboard. While in D.C., he was known in some circles as the city's best dinner host. A Southern gentleman, he performed a number of restorations across the northeastern South and the northeast, always keeping in mind the period, the socioeconomic conditions of the time, the materials at hand, and numerous other details commonly overlooked by those without his artistic pedantry and passionate convictions. As the Winterthur museum was nearing completion, he wrote a letter commenting on how certain décor and items were not to period and how to properly correct it. To his delight, he received a letter that his recommendations had been reviewed and would be implemented. In a short span of time, the changes happened, the museum was completed, and the originator passed away. Mr. Jennings was an expert on Frederick Law Olmstead. He was instrumental in the establishment of the James Longstreet memorial in Gettysburg. He researched and gave speeches on Southern painter C. R. Parker and his works. He coauthored one of the essential books on D.C. architecture, Massachusetts Avenue Architecture. He was an expert on Milledgeville and was a direct descendant of the Tuckers and Erwins who built Rosehill, also known as Lockerly. Flannery O'Connor, by her own admission, based the character John Wesley in A Good Man is Hard to Find upon Mr. Jennings. His only lasting complaint was that O'Connor had another character wearing his "Precious," his very own parrot-covered shirt of which he was inordinately proud. In 1964, Mr. Jennings sent Ms. O'Connor an arrangement of silk flowers, the only type allowable at Baldwin County Hospital's ICU where O'Connor was a patient. Only days later, Jennings found himself head pallbearer at O'Connor's funeral. After the service and still a little stunned, he checked his post office box. In it was a letter written in a hand he knew well. It read, "Thank you for the permanent flowers from a permanent friend." Services will be held on Monday, April 4, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church at 11:00AM. Deacon Tom Eden and Deacon Don Coates will officiate. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Hospice Care Option, 486 New Street, Macon, Georgia 31201 or to St. Joseph Catholic Church, 830 Poplar Street, Macon, Georgia 31201. Register online at www.hartsmort.com. Hart's Mortuary and Crematory, 765 Cherry Street, has charge of arrangements.