Raleigh Eve "Buddy" Coarsey, Jr., 80, of Brookfield passed away Monday, October 16, 2023, at South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta. A graveside funeral service was held for Buddy at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 17, 2023, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, where he was laid to rest. The Rev. Eric Smith officiated.
Buddy was born on March 12, 1943, in Tifton to Raleigh Eve Coarsey, Sr. and Othel Hayes Coarsey of Tift County, Georgia. He grew up in Brookfield, Georgia, and attended the Brookfield School before graduating from Tift County High School in 1961. He attended both Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia and Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, Georgia.
Buddy worked the family farm and turpentine businesses after his father's death until he went to work for a small trucking company opening a facility in Tifton about 1967. With no prior experience, he went on to drive tractor trailers for 31.5 years for United Parcel Service (UPS) and was inducted into the UPS Circle of Honor for no accidents during his career.
Buddy is survived by his wife, Charlotte Coarsey; his son, Raleigh E. Coarsey, III and his wife, Michele; three grandchildren, Justin, Gabriel and Shelby and her husband, Zachary; and his two sisters, Sandra Morris and Elizabeth Dillard.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Georgia Sheriff's Boys Ranch in Hahira, Georgia, (229-794-2606), which his father supported when it opened in 1960 to help children who have been neglected, abused, or abandoned.