Joseph C. Corley, 90, of Florence, completed a long and well-lived life on March 27, 2016 – Easter Sunday. Earlier in the same week, Joe and Wanda Lee celebrated their seventy-second wedding anniversary.
The Corleys are originally from Fairmont, WV, where they met as toddlers at First United Methodist Church. Joe graduated from high school in 1943 and immediately enlisted in the Army Air Corps to join the war in the South Pacific as a crew chief supporting airlift of critical supplies and wounded. They were both 18 when they were married March 22, 1944, on a weekend leave before he shipped overseas. Many thought the marriage wouldn’t last.
On his discharge after WWII, Joe capitalized on the GI Bill to attend West Virginia University, earning a degree in Forestry in 1950. Employment drew Joe and Wanda Lee to the Mississippi Gulf Coast where they lived for 58 years. He managed 43,000 acres of timberland as an area forester for a large paper company in the fifties and early sixties. In 1963 he was hired by the Mississippi Power Company to be Supervisor of Land and retired in 1988 as Manager of Consumer Affairs.
Joe was very active in civic and church activities while living in Long Beach. MS. He served many years as the Chairman of the Administrative board of Long Beach United Methodist Church, taught Sunday school, and served on many committees. He was active in the Masonic Lodge rising to be Worshipful Master in 1959 and serving as treasurer for 43 years. He was on the board of United Methodist Senior Services in Mississippi and the Long Beach Historical Society.
In 2008, they moved to Florence to be closer to their son Tim Corley, an attorney in Florence, and his wife Jennie. They attended Edgemont United Methodist Church and enjoyed being close to Tim’s three children Brian, Doug, and LeAnne; their spouses Anne Martha, Christa, and (soon-to-be) Jim Braswell respectively; and Tim’s four grandchildren. Their older son Chuck is an engineer in Austin, TX. Chuck and his wife Linda have two children Caryn (husband Michael McCaskill) and Chris and three grandchildren.
The thread through Joe’s life is his long love affair with Wanda Lee. In declining health for the last year, holding her hand or whispering “I love you” was the highlight of their day. Born on August 10, 1925, his days were lengthened by the quality life he lived and modeled. There will be a celebration of his life at the Edgemont United Methodist Church with visitation at 1PM and service of remembrance at 2PM on Saturday, April 2nd.
