Raymond Reese of Millen passed away Sunday, October 15, 2023.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Marion and Kathryn Reese.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at the Millen Cemetery.

Survivors include: his brother, Mike Reese (Janice) of Millen; sisters, Beth Carscallen of Atlanta and Becky Johnson (Don) of Statesboro, nephew, Hud Reese; and niece, Chansley Reese of Millen;

He was a member of the Millen Methodist Church.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Jenkins County Memorial Library.

Raymond was my brother. I was one year and three days older than Raymond. He was born three days shy of Christmas Day. He loved the Christmas holidays, decorating his little house in every nook and cranny.

Raymond graduated from Jenkins County High (JCHS) in 1969. While attending JCHS he also learned how to read and write Braille. Mrs. Georgia Youngblood volunteered to teach this skill to Raymond during afternoons after school, never expecting pay for her work. Daddy, though, did give Mrs. Youngblood a recliner for her volunteer work in helping Ramie learn this skill which he used frequently until his health declined.

Raymond was a reader like no other. An entire room of his home was dedicated to his many bookcases. We had to eventually place two by eight lumber under the cases due to the floor beginning to sag caused by the weight of his books. Ramie read with use of a magnifying glass until generous members of his church, Millen Methodist, donated toward the purchase of a reader where he could place any book on a sliding tray and read from this tray. The enlarged print was displayed on a TV-like screen. Pastor Chrisy Bandy was responsible for acquiring funds from several kind members toward the purchase of this life-changing device.

Raymond was a regular at our library too, where Wilma Gainey always volunteered to help him in any way, finding books, making copies, or just shooting the breeze, always willing to listen to his stories. He loved "his" library.

Raymond's church always played an important role in his life, especially the choir. He was not a member, but enjoyed attending their practices on Wednesday nights. And then again, he enjoyed the polished presentation on Sunday mornings, sometimes vocally letting congregation members know how much he appreciated the choir's efforts. He was especially fond of the children's presentations, and he let them know how much he appreciated their songs.

Ramie had responsibilities at the church too. Due to his living only steps from Millen Methodist, he was given keys allowing him to open the church building on Sunday mornings for his fellow members. He was also responsible for seeing that the thermostat was set on "toasty"  during the cold months and just short of "chilly" during the summer months. If members found the preacher's sermon occasionally not to their liking, no one could blame the temperatures in the sanctuary. Raymond saw to that.

Vivian Jenkins, Saranell Kent and Stephen, and Mike Pike were good friends in many ways too, frequently taking Ramie to the grocery store. He would always be standing by the street, waiting a little impatiently (well, a lot actually), for his ride to wherever. Like his daddy, patience was not one of Raymond's better characteristics. If he was expecting you at 10 o'clock, then you needed to be there at 9:55, otherwise you were late. "Where ya' been?" he would many times ask me, if I was late pulling up to his house at precisely the agreed-upon time.

Ramie and I many, many times enjoyed some of our favorite TV programs, Andy Griffith, Gunsmoke, Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes, and others. It never mattered to us that we knew the scripts by heart or that Matt killed the same thug in the dirt street every week hundreds and hundreds of times. They were still funny, sometimes hilarious, and the good guys always won. We liked that, Barney was our favorite character, "Nip it, Andy".

I'll end with a special note to Paula Johnson, Gloria Bargeron and Art Johnson. All of these women were faithful to Ramie up to the end. Paula was a wonderful traveling companion, even though they mostly stayed lost on their trips, getting home at three or four in the morning. And, I always found a note from Gloria on his bedside table that I read to him. Art was a dependable visitor at the nursing home, sometimes taking him to Dairy Queen for a milkshake. Art was at the hospital with me on his death day. Thanks so much to these three women. Their devotion was immeasurable

Thanks to all of the staff at Pruitt/Bethany. For seven years they gave Raymond dedicated, loving care. I'll still laugh at some of his stories that took place during bath times. Not to be repeated here, though. Thank you Pruitt/Bethany.

He was a damn good brother. I'll miss him forever. Good-bye Ramie. Mama and Daddy are waiting for you.