Cleon Clifford Tankersley, 90, of Ocilla, Georgia, died Sunday, June 3, 2018, at Southern Oaks Assisted Living in Tifton, Georgia.
Funeral services will be held at 4 PM, Wednesday, June 6, 2018, at Ocilla Baptist Church, with the Reverend Robert Couey and the Reverend Billy Stephens officiating. The eulogy will be delivered by Wyndall Lorie Walters. Interment will follow in the Ocilla Cemetery. The family will receive friends prior to the services, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM at the Ocilla Baptist Church in the sanctuary.
Pallbearers will be Mr. Tankersley’s grandsons, Clifford Drew Tankersley, Christopher Kurt Willis, Robert Glen Willis, Kendall Hammonds Carroll, Tommy Ross Vance, and his nephew Wyndall Lorie Walters.
Born on November 19, 1927, in Ocilla, Georgia, to the late Troy Cleon & Ora Mae Dorminey Tankersley, he was also preceded in death by his beloved wife of 51 years, Carolyn Whitaker Tankersley, and his sister, Betty Joyce Tankersley Walters.
Mr. Tankersley was a Phillips 66 distributor for 50 years and was the owner and operator of Tankersley Oil Company, Inc. and Tankersley Service Station in Ocilla. He was a 1944 graduate of Ocilla High School, a 1948 graduate of Middle Georgia College in Cochran, where he played basketball, football and baseball. Before finishing his college education, he served two years in the United States Navy from 1945 – 1947. He was assigned to the U. S. Naval Training Center, San Diego, California and the U. S. Naval Disciplinary Barracks, Terminal Island, San Pedro, California as a Yeoman Third Class (Y3C). Upon his return from the Navy, he finished his college education in 1950 with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia where he was also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Mr. Tankersley was a faithful member of Ocilla Baptist Church where he served as a deacon. He was a member of the Carrie Paulk Sunday School class, and he was also a member of the Lions Club.
Mr. Tankersley is survived by his children: Robert Clifford Tankersley and his wife Nanci of Ocilla, and Jane Elizabeth Tankersley Willis of Tifton; his grandchildren: Clifford Drew Tankersley (Allyson), Christopher Kurt Willis, Anna Carolyn Willis Vance (Tommy Ross Vance), Erin Elizabeth Tankersley Carroll (Kendall), and Robert Glen Willis (Hannah); three great-grandchildren: Andie Elizabeth Carroll, Charlie Robert Willis and Jack Clifford Tankersley. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews and his first cousin Barbara Zoe Tankersley Hitt.
The family suggests those desiring to send memorials, may send them to Ocilla Baptist Church, P. O. Box 101, Ocilla, GA, 31774, the Ocilla Cemetery Trust Fund, % Anniece Lee, 601 South Irwin Ave., Ocilla, Georgia, 31774 or the Gideons International, Ben Hill- Irwin Camp, P. O. Box 752, Fitzgerald, Georgia, 31750.
The family wishes to thank the staff at Southern Oaks Assisted Living for their loving kindness and attentive care to “Mr. Tank” during his stay there.