MR. ROY WILLARD LOCKE, SR., age 96, of Eastman, GA, died Tuesday, August 30, 2022, at his residence. Funeral services will be held at 2:00PM Friday, September 2, at Southerland Funeral Chapel, with Mr. Pat O’Conner and Rev. Roy Locke, Jr. officiating, with interment in New Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery. Willard was a lifelong resident of Dodge County, of the Baptist Faith, and a lifelong farmer who did not retire until he was 73 years old. He was the patriarch of his family, a devoted husband to his wife, and a loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. He enjoyed fishing, fox hunting, gardening, fish fry’s, watching westerns, and spending time with his family. Willard was the son of the late Maggie Lowery Locke and was preceded in death by his Wife of 41 years, Vesta Lucille Peacock Locke, Step-Father, Thomas Locke, Great-Great-Granddaughter, Adalyn Rose, and his Beloved Canine, Tiny “Houndsey”. He is survived by his 3 Daughters – Cynthia “Cindy” Locke Hitchcock (Lewis) of Garner, NC, Juanita Locke Kreimar, and Ida Mae Locke Yancey, both of Eastman; Son – Rev. Roy Locke, Jr. of Warner Robins; Adopted Daughter – Nancy Burch Brown of Helena; 7 Grandchildren – Wes Locke, Lucy Allen (William), Kelly Board (James), Daniel Todd (Heather), Melinda Roberson (Charlie), Rae Brazil (Kalen), and Julia Peache (Robert); 10 Great-Grandchildren – Hannah Rose (William), Karmen Heath (David), Kenneth Giddens, Zachary Todd, Valerie Todd, April Davis (Chris), Catherine Mullis, Sean Roberson, Bryce Brazil, and Clate Brazil; 8 Great-Great-Grandchildren – Grayson Heath, Haven Heath, Joria Heath, Axl Rose, Connor Mullis, Charlie Mullis, Nicholas Williams, and C.J. Davis; Several Nieces and Nephews. The family may be contacted at the residence of Ida Mae Yancey, 664 Jordan Brown Rd., Eastman, and will receive friends in Southerland Funeral Chapel from 1:00PM-2:00PM Friday, September 2. Pat O'Conner's Ulegy: Willard Locke Eulogy Good afternoon everyone. My name is Pat O’Conner, and I want to start by thanking the Locke family – Ida Mae, Juanita, Nancy, Roy and Cindy, for asking me to be part of the celebration of a life well lived. My wife and I live in Savannah, but my roots are right here in Dodge County. I have known Willard Locke literally my entire life. At home, I hav a picture which my mother took at my second birthday – in 1957, at my grandparents’ home over at jay Bird springs – I am sitting in Willard’s (actually Pat’s father’s Lap) and Willard is wearing one of those old-fashioned pointy paper birthday hats. The kind you put on your head and hold in place with a rubber band under your chin., Willard’s long history with my family started way before 1957; however, Willard was born in 1926. The Great Depression hit this country in 1929 and lasted, by historical accounts, until 1939. Think about that – from the time Willard was three yeas old until he was 13, he lived through the Great Depression Right in the middle of he Depression, whe he was in the sixth grade – Willard stopped going to school and went to work to support his family. That work ethic and love for family stayed with him the rest of his life. There were many constants in Willard’s life, and one of them was that he always worked to support his family. His connection with my family began when he went to work for my granddaddy, Benjamin J. O’Conner, on his farm at Jay Bird Springs. My own daddy, Dan O’Conner, was born in 1933 (when Willard was 7) and grew up working with Willard. When I talk about work in the the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s – Throughout Willard’s entire life – I mean the kind of work which was nothing like what many people consider work today. There were no air conditioners; there was no electricity; certainly, no internet; very few conveniences of life. Work meant you got up early in the morning; you sweated all day; you got dirt under your fingernails; you came home, ate supper with the family; and went to bed. The next day, you repeated it all. My earliest memories of Willard are – as a child he would let me sit on his lap while he drove the tractor around the farm. Roy remembers his daddy putting on the tractor when he was nine years old and then letting him drive by himself when he was only ten. Willard not only had a work ethic – he passed it along to his family and to everyone who observed him. And what a family he had. Three daughters, a son, an adopted daughter, seven grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, and eight great great grandchildren. What a wonderful legacy. I want to say to each and every one of you: Your father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather was indeed a wonderful, loving and respected man. His legacy of caring for each of you, working hard to support his family and the example he set in life are the most valuable things he could have ever passed along. My family has been blessed to consider Willard a part of it for almost 80 years and each of you are blessed by the example he set and the love he shared with you. Willard did not just work, however. He also loved to go fishing and he loved to go hunting. And he loved western TV shows. For many years, the men in my family would gather once or twice a year down on the banks of the Oconee River for a fishing trip that lasted from a Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. We like to have fishing contests – Who could catch the most fish, who could catch the biggest catfish, the biggest bass or the biggest bream. On many of those trips, Willard and Howard Veal would join us. It was sort of like the New York Yankees playing a little baseball team when they participated in the fishing contest, however. It just wasn’t fair. We started keeping records of who caught the biggest fish in 1986. Yesterday, I went back and looked and was reminded that Willard and Howard pretty much dominated the contests. In 1989, Willard caught a 27 pound channel catfish on a trot line. I think the next biggest fish that year was two pounds. Willard won again in 1990, 1993 and twice in 1994. Somewhere along the line, we split up the contest into three categories: Catfish Bass and bream. In 1997, Willard won all three categories with a 9 ½ pound Appaloosa catfish, a 3 ½ pound large mouth bass and a half pound bream. He loved fox hunting just as much as he loved fishing. Roy told me that Willard at one time had a stripped-down Model T Ford. When he was ready to go fox hunting, he would call the dogs and they would jump on the flat bet rear portion of he Model T. When he would round a corner, the dogs would dig their toenails in and lean against the curve. I wish we had a picture of that. Willard also had a sense of humor. We had a bowl of pistachio nuts at the river trip one year. Someone asked Willard how the pistachios were. He said “crunchy.” You had to kow Willard to know he was pulling someone’s leg. During the 1960’s, Willard went to work at the Ford Plantation down near Richmond Hill on the coast where the Ogeechee River hits the Atlantic Ocean. He started out as a worker and then as a watcher over the place for the Ford family. I remember going down there with my daddy and my brother Ben. Willard would take us fishing in the old rice canals. There were loaded with very large red breast bream. The place was idyllic – as beautiful a place as there is along the Georgia coast. Today, the Ford Plantation is a residential development with a golf course, country club and swimming pools everywhere. Roy can remember when he was a child living there that you could not see where you were going while plowing in the field because of he yellow flies. He told me he wondered how they were going to control yellow flies around modern day golfers. (Roy, I’m not sure they ever figured that out.) Later, my daddy retired and moved to Dodge County in 1976. Willard worked for him right up the to the Daddy passed away in 2000. He was truly a part of our family. Another thing I noticed about Willard – some of y’all might not have the same memory, but I would be willing to bet that you do – I never saw him get mad or use a curse word. Willard had one of the most even tempers that I’ve ever came across. No matter what challenges life brought, Willard could handle the stress and neve let you know that something was bothering him. He was a great example to his family and to your eyes, like mine, for many years. I have practiced law in Savannah since 1981, and I like to think that any success I’ve had has been through the influence of people like Willard. His work ethic, his love for family, his love for the outdoors and nature, his faith and his wonderful temperament made quite an impression – one that I will never forget. I am sure that many of you can say the same thing. Willard never talked a lot, but his actions always spoke louder than any words ever could. How this wonderful man has gone home to be with God, and those went fefore hime including his wife of 41 years, Vesta. In the words of the poet Tennyson – “God’s finger touched hime and he slept.” I know he is smiling down today. Let us pray, Thank you.