JOSEPH HARVEY RACKLEY

ALEXANDER CITY, ALABAMA – Joseph Harvey Rackley passed away peacefully, with his family by his side, on Friday, September 6, 2024. He was 97 years old. Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at Watson-Hunt Funeral Home. Visitation will be held from 2:00 until 3:00 p.m., and the Funeral will begin at 3:00 p.m. A private burial will be in Perry Memorial Gardens in Perry, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests memorial contributions to County Line Baptist Church, his first, and in retirement his last, pastorate, located at 1115 North County Line Rd, Unadilla, Georgia 31091. Harvey was born on March 30, 1927, at home in Oaky Woods on Little Grocer Creek near Ocmulgee River in Houston County to the late William Lester Rackley and Annie Watson Rackley. He grew up in Oakey Woods, farming with his parents, his paternal grandparents, William Fulton Rackley and Elizabeth Julia Wilson Rackley, and his seven siblings. He proudly served our country in the U.S. Army beginning the summer of 1945 at age eighteen during World War II, while his 4-years-older brother served in the U.S. Navy. Re-enlisting into the Air Force upon WWII Armistice, Harvey served in Germany for the West Berlin Blockade Airlift operation to supply two million entrapped citizens with food, medicine, heating coal, and all necessities of life which required 278,000 in-country flights by C-47 air cargo planes. Those planes needed constant aircraft maintenance, and Harvey was one of the many technicians there. Returning home in 1949, he married and shared life with Evelyn Williams until her death in late 2020. Through those seventy-one years, he returned to farming, studied at Mercer Theological School, and pastored various mid-state churches. Harvey accepted a position and worked with Civil Service at Robins Air Force Base in electronic avionics and guided missile maintenance and retired from a successful career in 1980. Harvey and his family lived in Perry, Georgia, from 1961 until 2021, at Houston Lake and on Sparrow Street. After retirement, he explored mid-state native American settlement areas and researched his families' genealogies. He enjoyed supplying local restaurants with produce he grew in his garden. Upon Evelyn's departure from this earth, Harvey visited then subsequently lived with his daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Jerry Huff, in Apopka, Florida. In 2021, he moved to his son's home in Prattville, Alabama, and in Spring 2023, he entered Bill Nichols State Veteran's Home, there enjoying fellowship with other vets until beginning anew in his heavenly eternal home. Harvey was preceded in death by his loving wife of seventy-one years; his daughter, Janet Rackley Huff; his son-in-law, Jerry Huff; his parents, William and Elizabeth Wilson Rackley; his siblings; and many extended family members and friends. Left to cherish the memories they made with Harvey are his son, Ron Rackley (Lynn); his grandchildren, Claire Rackley Stripling (Jason), Wayne Rackley, Josh Rackley (Jessie), and Katherine Rackley Gray (Garrett); his great-grandchildren, Aubrey Stripling Griffith (Grayson), and Edie Stripling; and many, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews. 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.

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JOSEPH HARVEY RACKLEY

March 30, 1927 - September 6, 2024