Lt. Colonel Earl Hugh Talley, Retired United States Army of Arab, AL went to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on June 3, 2018 surrounded by his family. He was a faithful member of First Baptist Church, Arab.
Earl was born on July 4, 1935 to Elizabeth and Hubbard Talley in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from John Marshall High School in Richmond in 1954 going on to graduate in 1958 from Virginia Military Institute. He later received his Masters of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Upon graduation from VMI, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the United States Army. He served his country overseas in Germany, Vietnam, and Korea ending his military career at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. He ended his career as an aerospace engineer at Teledyne Brown there also.
In 1995 Earl completed the entire 2,179 miles of the Appalachian Trail walking from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Katahdin Stream Falls, Maine. He acquired the trail name of ET which he was proud of and was referred to long after his walk. He chronicled his entire journey for the Arab Tribune sending back entries that ran in the paper throughout his entire adventure.
He was an avid reader who enjoyed many different genres and he attended many different Civil War Seminars at his alma mater, VMI studying different Civil War engagements. He also shared his love of reading with kindergarten and first grade students for the last 9 years in Mrs. Kari Moss’ class at Arab Primary School. He loved the interaction that he had with each student teaching them to read and being there for them each and every week of the school year.
Earl was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his loving wife of 51 years, Joan M. Talley , his sons, Perry Talley of Nashville, TN and Earl Talley, Jr. of Arab, his daughter, Tonya Moran (Brian) of Tuscaloosa, AL. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Nathan, Hannah and Aidan Talley all of Nashville, TN as well as his sisters, Grace T. Simpkins of Richmond, VA and Bonnie T. Reames (Russell) of Yorktown, VA and a brother, Donald Talley (Joan) of Richmond, VA.
Arrangements are Thursday June 7 at 11 am at First Baptist Church of Arab with a reception following afterwards. In lieu of flowers, it has been asked that donations be made to Arab First Baptist Church building fund.
