Friends and family are remembering Jimmy DeLoach Sr., a former mayor of Garden City who had also served 12 years on the Chatham County Commission, following his death Tuesday at age 86.

The father of Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach, Jimmy DeLoach served three terms as mayor of Garden City from 1973-79 before being elected to represent Chatham County’s 7th District in 1980. He went on to be re-elected to two more four-year terms before deciding not to run for re-election in 1992. As a commissioner, DeLoach had championed the first Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax in 1983 and the installation of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler.

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U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said he has tremendous respect for DeLoach and his family, who he had known most of his life from growing up in the area.

“What he did in his career in public service was phenomenal and something we should all strive to emulate,” Carter said.

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Family and friends on Tuesday described him as a devout Christian and faithful member of his church who had also served as a Sunday school teacher for many years.

Doug Patterson, who served as DeLoach’s pastor at First Baptist Church in Garden City in the early 1970s and continued a friendship up to his death, described DeLoach as a “pillar of faith” who had once asked him his opinion when considering the commission run.

“I said you should have done it yesterday,” Patterson said. “I really encouraged him to do so because he was a man who was straight in his views. I’m afraid we are not reproducing those type of people in our days.”

The Jimmy DeLoach Parkway, which has an interchange with Interstate 95 and connects U.S. 80 in Bloomingdale to GA 21 in Port Wentworth, was named in honor of DeLoach.

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“He never would say anything about it, but I know he did appreciate it,” Mayor DeLoach said. “He loved serving people more than anybody I had known.”

After high school, during the Korean War, Jimmy DeLoach joined the Georgia Air National Guard 117th Electronics Engineering and Radar Installation Squadron of the 165th Airlift Wing. Following his time in the military, DeLoach had worked at Savannah Electric and Power Co. for more than 40 years before retiring in 1993 and joining the landscaping business, Tidewater Landscape Management, owned by Mayor DeLoach and his brother Jimmy DeLoach Jr.

Brian Foster, who serves with the mayor as an alderman-at-large on the Savannah City Council, said he had known Jimmy DeLoach since the 1980s.

“He was a quintessential community leader and politician,” Foster said.

DeLoach is survived by his wife of 67 years, Marion Virginia Groover DeLoach; his sons Eddie and Jimmy DeLoach Jr.; his daughters Pamela DeLoach Huff and Patty DeLoach Onorato; his brothers, Don and Den DeLoach; and multiple grandchildren.

Source: https://t-tees.com
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