JOE BYRD LEVERETTE

PERRY – Joe Byrd Leverette, 85, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at Heart of Georgia Hospice’s Hazel Colson House. Services to Celebrate the Life of Joe will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2020, in the Fellowship Hall at First Baptist Church of Perry. The family will receive friends from 4:00 until 5:00 p.m., and the memorial service will begin at 5:00 p.m. Reverend Leland Collins will officiate. Joe was the son of the late Clarence “C.D.” and Gladys Sewell Leverette. The family moved to Perry when Joe was seven years old after his father accepted the position of the first GBI agent to work in Perry. He loved to play basketball, was quite good at it, played all four years of high school, and was on the State Championship basketball team with Coach Staples. Joe graduated from Perry High School in 1953. He then attended Middle Georgia College where he met the love of his life, Jimmilu Dennard. After graduating with an Associate’s Degree, they moved to Atlanta to go to school at Georgia State University. It was during that time in Atlanta that the couple married and soon moved back to Perry to be near family. Joe was happy to accept a position with Civil Service at Robins Air Force Base. In 1972, the couple moved with their three children to Montgomery, Alabama, as Joe took a job with The Design Center in Washington, DC. In 1983, the family returned to Perry where Joe would work out his career at RAFB. He was a Computer Specialist and Analyst and retired after thirty years of service. Joe was a faithful, steadfast, and passionate fan of the University of Alabama. He enjoyed the friendly competition with friends and family while watching football games in the fall each year. Joe learned to water ski as a teenager at Houston Lake in Perry and became an excellent skier, entertaining anyone who was on the boat or on the dock watching his thrill and delight on the water. He was always one to have a ball and loved dancing. Through the years, his time spent with family and friends at the lake and, often, the beach was cherished and among many of his favorite memories…until his grandchildren came along. He was a wonderful father, grandfather, and in the past few years, great-grandfather. He was a simple man and a good man, and as many would say, a true southern gentleman. Left to cherish the memories they made with Joe are his loving and devoted wife of sixty-four years, Jimmilu Dennard Leverette of Perry; his children, Dave Leverette (Jennifer) of Dothan, Alabama, and Debra Leverette Calhoun (Duane) and Donna Rose Leverette Hughes (Scott), both of Montgomery, Alabama; his grandchildren, who adoringly referred to him as “Joe Joe,” Chris Leverette, Stuart Leverette (Jennifer), Brooke Legg (Blake), Haley Hughes, Hannah Hughes, Ava Leverette, and Olivia Hughes; his great-grandchildren, David Leverette and Emma Kate Leverette; his brother-in-law, Jay Dennard (Margaret); his sister-in-law, June Dennard Loper; and several nieces and nephews. Joe was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers-in-law, Everett “Razz” Raspberry and Jack Speight; and his sisters-in-law, Joanne Dennard Raspberry and Rose Dennard Speight. Condolences for the family may be left in the online guestbook at www.watsonhunt.com. Watson-Hunt Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Tributes

JOE BYRD LEVERETTE

May 11, 1935 - September 15, 2020