William E. “Bill” Tucker, 86, of Tifton died Monday, June 30, 2008, at his residence. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Rev. Glenn Martin will officiate with burial to follow in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Korey Keeter, Al Kent, Ricky Paulk, Russ Ponder, Jim Adcock and Bryant Taylor will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be John D. Crosby, Rusty Simpson, Larry Mims, Gary Vowell, Hull Atwater, Eston Walker, Billy Jones, Alice Jarnigan, Lavonia Mathis and Dan McCorvey. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, July 2, 2008, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Mr. Tucker was born on June 30, 1922 in Tift County and was the son of Warren Lott Tucker and Eva Leslie Kirkland Tucker, both deceased. He was also preceded in death by one brother, Jimmy W. Tucker, who died in November of 2007; and one sister, Lillian Tucker, who died in March of 2008.
Mr. Tucker graduated from Tifton High School, the University of Georgia, and the University of North Carolina School for Chamber Executives. He operated the Tifton Vocational School and was manager of the Tifton – Tift County Chamber of Commerce for 17 years. He was president of the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce Executives. He retired as the Senior Statistical Analyst with the Georgia Department of Labor. He was past president of the Tifton Rotary Club and a member of Tifton’s First United Methodist Church. He was a World War II veteran, having served in communications with the United States Army. He was a Mason and a member of the Tifton Elks Club. He loved music, traveling, fishing but, above all, his family and grandchildren.
Mr. Tucker is survived by his wife of 54 years, Billie Rowland Tucker of Tifton; two sons and daughters-in-law, William Rowland “Bo” Tucker and his wife, Denise, of Hahira, and Robert Kirkland Tucker and his wife, Maria, of Woodstock; two sisters, Rose Tucker of Tifton and Sara Ann Ponder of Omega; and four grandchildren, Matthew Kirkland Tucker and Michael Carter Tucker, both of Woodstock, and Kristen Marie Tucker and Julia Michelle Tucker, both of Hahira.