Rev. Dr. Lacy Whatley, 81, of Sylvester, died Thursday, April 26, 2007, at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Arpil 29, 2007, at Tifton's First Assembly of God. Rev. Joe Crumley and Rev. Eddie Hutcheson will officiate with entombment to follow in the Tift Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Pallbearers will be David Sparks, Dr. Alfred Mott, Rev. Larry Daughtrey, Tommy Yarbrough, Michael Hughes and Aron McCaffity. The family will receive friends on Saturday, April 28, 2007, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Rev. Dr. Whatley was born on April 20, 1926 in Winston County, Alabama and was the son of Roy V. Whatley and Lola Chambers Whatley, both deceased. He was also preceded in death by his wife, Erma Mavis Stracener Whatley. He was a retired Assembly of God minister and a member of the First Assembly of God in Sylvester. He was also a veteran of the United States Army. Rev. Whatley founded Tifton's First Assembly of God when it was built at 11th Street and Central Avenue in 1952 and he also founded several other Assembly of God churches in the Southeast. He was the author of five books and earned five degrees including a D.D., a Ph.D., an L.L.D., a B.A., and an M.R.E. He served for two years as Dean of the college in Sevierville, Tennessee and, at the time of his death, was still teaching a college course on Wednesday night at Lake City Florida's Satellite College in Sylvester.
Rev. Dr. Whatley is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Derrell and Joan Whatley of Chula; one daughter, Erma Whatley McCaffity of Tifton; two brothers, Scotty Whatley of Milton, Florida and Neal Whatley of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; four grandchildren, Shanna Johnson, Shawn McCaffity, Lacy Kennon and Andrea Milton; and ten great grandchildren, Darrin Johnson, Marley Johnson, Kaycee Johnson, Megan Vickery, Heather Vickery, Ashley Vickery, Sonya McCaffity, Aron McCaffity, Alex Kennon and Kate Kennon.