William Garvey

William L. Garvey was born on the 9th of April, 1928 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was the second child of Lillie Bell Campbell and William W. Garvey. He is preceded in death by his only sibling and sister, Mary Alice Tomlinson of Rochester, NY. The family moved to a small farm in Inskip, an area NW of downtown Knoxville. When He was 14 he lost his Father to a fatal heart attack as he was walking to the barn to milk the cow on a Saturday morning. This was very hard on Daddy so his Mother sent him to live with his Uncle, Dr. Fred Garvey, M.D. and his male cousins in Western North Carolina. Dad had a difficult time getting along with his cousins and so his Mother sent him to live with her sister Lena's daughter, Ruth, In Boone, NC. Her niece Ruth was loving and welcomed him but he still found high school there and getting over his Dad's death challenging. He asked his Mother if she would sign for him to leave high school to enter the Navy as he was 17 at the time, and she agreed. After enlisting, he attended the Great Lakes Naval Boot camp and his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) training at Millington, TN Naval Aviation Training Center near Memphis, TN. After he was trained to be an Electrician for the Navy, he soon found himself on an aircraft carrier. He found his passion in all things' aviation in the Navy where he also received his GED while enlisted. After his Honorable service in the Navy he was discharged and moved from Knoxville, TN to Atlanta, GA. Here he obtained a job working for Delta Airlines as an Aviation Electrician. Wanting to make some new friends and meet some "nice eligible ladies", he took a friend's advice to attend a church's young adult group at Inman Park Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. It was here that he met our Mother, Alice Joan Duke at a Sunday evening young adult social. He has said often, that when he met her, he was instantly smitten and that she was "it"; he had found the love of his life. After a brief courtship, they married on October 24th, 1953 and would have been married 70 years today. Mom, after working at the Federal Reserve here in Atlanta, began working for Eastern Airlines. Soon she and Dad were able to move to Miami, FL with their jobs so Dad could attend Flight school. Daddy always wanted to fly from a little boy when he had seen an airplane fly over him in Tennessee. Because of his Naval service on an aircraft carrier repairing Torpedo Bomber (TBM) aircraft, Dad was able to use his GI Bill educational benefits to go to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical school to learn to fly. Dad dreamed of flying for the airlines, so Mom and Dad pooled their money to buy a small airplane. This enabled him to build up his flight hours where they lived near Miami in Hialeah, FL. He began to put in applications for flyer/pilot positions in Miami. After being rebuffed by Delta and Eastern Airlines, a dejected man walked around the corner into the Miami Pan American Airway's office. He was told that if he could relocate to New York in the next couple of weeks, he could find a job with Pan Am Airways. He was finally going to be a commercial airline crewmember. Mom was able to transfer to Eastern' s New York office and they moved as Dad began flying as a Flight Navigator on DC-6s. The year was 1955 and while he endured two furloughs and a transfer to San Francisco along the way, he worked his way up to flight engineer, and then co-pilot, on the Boeing 707. He would give 33 years to Pan Am, finally retiring as a Captain on the Boeing 747 aircraft in 1988. They first lived in Flushing, Queens, NY and then moved out to 52 Morris St. in Brentwood, LI, NY. Mom carried 5 children to birth. Bill, Mike, Joey, Alicia and Matt were all born on Long Island, NY. He and Mom would help start a new Baptist church being planted in Bay Shore, NY. It was here during this time that Dad would re-dedicate his life to the Lord. For the next several years, our second home would be Calvary Baptist Church, in Bay Shore, LI, NY. where Dad for a time was a Trustee for the Church. Dad, however, always had a dream of building a small airport to where he would want to retire with a small business in aviation. He had always kept his hand in general aviation as he maintained his Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) mechanics certificate as well as his Aviation Inspector (AI) ticket he had received while working for Pan Am during one of his furloughs. Throughout the rest of his life, many pilots would hire him for their annual aircraft inspections. That dream would start to see fruition when our Uncle, E. Vance Duke sought to become partners in buying some land in Jasper County, GA together near Monticello, GA. Always following Dad's vision for our family, Mom supported the move and our transition to Monticello and Jasper County, GA in the fall of 1972. After Dad and Mom's brother, Uncle Vance, bought the property, Dad began to realize his dream of building and operating a small general aviation airport. Monticello Sky Ranch (GA06) is a beautiful 4000-foot turf landing strip with many hangars along the Stinson Drive he planned. Dad would continue to fly after we moved to the "Farm" until he retired at age 60 in 1988. Almost 55 years later the Monticello Sky Ranch flying community is still active. As Dad was often gone flying around the World before he retired, the family and airport ranch was watched over by Mom and we who finished growing up in Monticello, GA. Even though he was often away, He was always the witness, example and hero set before us by God that we will never ever forget; while always reminding us that we were his and his Father's children when admonishing us to "Remember who your Father and Grandfather is" before letting us leave the house. He inspired and helped us all to attend and graduate from college and the university. Not just in helping us in and through college, but he has always been most generous in giving to our business endeavors and supporting us in all we tried to do in life, sacrificing time and finances for our dreams as well as his own. With Dad's own example, when he received an Associate of Welding and Auto Body Repair degree, (that he was very proud of), he instilled in us discipline and a tireless work ethic ("Always do the best you can, ____!), along with our Moms directive that we must produce while we are here as unto the Lord in all our endeavors. He was able to witness and attend our graduations of two Bachelor of Fine Arts, one Bachelor of Nursing, a Master of Public Health and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. He had a somewhat difficult time after retiring from flying for Pan Am and Mom was essential in helping Dad transition to retirement. She helped us all get to know him again and He became much closer to us all. When we would call her, she would hand the phone to him instead and he soon became the one who would often call us to check on us! He would often visit us and our families. He described himself as a consummate "hugger" and often showed us his love in that and many other ways, too numerous to count. He has seen us, his five children, twelve grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, become successful in all we set out to do because of his example and testimony. Truly the history of the Biblical Father has not been lost on any of us as we have also known the righteous, forgiving example of a Godly Father. We, his family, because of his life, do not mourn, but rejoice that he has reunited with all his loved ones, our Mother, his wife, and finally with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He entered his rest, in Paradise, January 6, 2024, at 95 years of age, ……….…...Just the beginning.... A funeral service for Capt. William Garvey will be held 2 o'clock, Friday, January 12, 2024, in the chapel of Henry Funeral Home, Lithonia. The interment will be held at 3 o'clock, Saturday, January 13, 2024 at Lynnhurst Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee. Our family will receive friends at the funeral home from 12-2 on Friday prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, please consider a making a contribution in his memory to Compassion International, www.compassion.com.