Eldon (Cotton) Pennington was born July 31, 1931, to Dan and Delta Smith Pennington at Moores Creek in Jackson County, Kentucky. His passing was August 31, 2017; he was 86 years and one month old.

He is survived by his brother, Herman of Hamilton, Ohio, his sister, Marie, of Sun City, Florida and his brother, Wayne, of Annville, Kentucky. He has nieces and nephews and great and great great nieces and nephews living in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

He grew up on the creek in Jackson County working on the farm, going to church and going to school at Buffalo Grade School; he graduated from Tyner High School and attended Sue Bennett College. He said recently that he was baptized at the McWhorter Christian Church when he was in high school. He went to Cincinnati and got a job with Cincinnati Gear Company and retired from there in 1986.

Not long after Eldon moved to Ohio, he met and married Veola Burks from Wayne County, Kentucky. He and Veola married on October 27, 1951, in his parent's home on Moores Creek in Jackson County. Veola died on January 5, 2013. They were marriage partners for 66 years. They had no children; but, each had a namesake, Veola Rice Williams and Eldon Rice, Cotton's cousins. Their only homes were in the greater Cincinnati area and in Mystic View.

Cotton was a machinist by trade, an avid fisherman and gardener. He was at home on the water and on the land; so, the retirement lake home was a perfect place for him to live out his retirement years.

Cotton was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, and his sisters, Nola Baker and Reba Evans, and by his brother, Bill.

If you knew Cotton, you would say this: he played a good Santa Clause; he was a good citizen, a good employee, a good son, a good brother, a good husband, a good in-law, a good uncle, a good neighbor and a good friend.

Eldon (Cotton) Pennington was simply a good man.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 after 12 pm in the chapel of the funeral home. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 2 pm at the Hicks-Vaughn Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be in the Elk Spring Cemetery.