Longtime Courier owner passes
It is with regret the Courier announces the passing of longtime newspaper owner Gerrie Lake.
Lake and husband Hershel Lake, who passed away in 2014, purchased the Carthage Courier in February of 1976 — a span that now reaches 50-plus years of ownership for the Lake Family of Smith County’s weekly publication. The Lake’s two sons, Steve and David, continue to be influential in the family ownership as well.
The Lakes came to Smith County in 1976 and were heavily involved in the Smith County community with Gerrie Lake working daily in the newspaper operations.
Even with the family relocating to Pulaski in Giles County, Tennessee in 1985, the Lakes continued ownership of the Carthage Courier which now stands as the longest continued family ownership in the weekly’s 113-year history.
Geraldine (Gerrie) Vaughn Lake of Pulaski passed away on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at Southern Tennessee Regional Lawrenceburg. She was born in Buhl, Alabama on December 13, 1941 and was 84 years old.
Full obituary can be found on the Bennett-May & Pierce Funeral Home and Crematory website.
