Ricky "Dale" Johnson, 27, of Ray City died Sunday, February 3, 2008, at Saint Luke's Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida. Funeral services will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6, 2008, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Rev. Eddie Hutcheson will officiate with burial to follow in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Lamar Griffin, Steve Dorsey, Tracy Carroll, William Browning, Homer Adams, Jr., and Sean Johnson. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, February 5, 2008, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Dale was born on February 19, 1980 in Tifton and was the son of Ricky Johnson of Baxley and Leesa Weldon Best Walker of Ray City. He was preceded in death by his step-father, Nicky Best; maternal grandfather, James Doster Weldon; paternal grandfather, Ira Johnson; and one uncle, Spencer Taylor. He graduated from Tift County High School in 2000. Dale was very outgoing and loved people. He was a very special person and touched the lives of everyone he came in contact with, each one in an individual way. He loved to go fishing and enjoyed playing video games with his nephew.
Dale is survived by his mother and step-father, Leesa Weldon Best Walker and her husband, Gene, of Ray City; his father and step-mother, Ricky and Vickie Johnson of Baxley; maternal grandparents, Oris and Mattiann Hobby of Tifton; paternal grandmother, Imelda Sorrell of Baxley; one brother, Sean Johnson of Quitman; one sister, Tara Johnson Turner of Tifton; one step-brother, Matthew Best of McRae; one step-sister, Dixie Best of Mauk; four aunts and their spouses, Jeena and Joe Hester of Tifton, Harriet Felts of Mauk, Trelle and Alvin Acock of Baxley, and Jean Taylor of Baxley; one uncle, Earl Johnson and his wife, Mary, of Baxley; one niece, Alexis Johnson of Baxley; and two nephews, Thai Johnson of Baxley and Colin Johnson of Tifton.