Obituary for Emery A. Maddox, Jr.
Published in the Tallahassee Democrat
on July 23, 2013  Emery
A. "Deac" Maddox, Jr., age 89, died July 21, 2013. He is survived by his
wife of 65 years, Martha Wheeler Maddox, and three children: Kim, Kerry,
and Rod Maddox, all of Tallahassee. Other members of the family include
Rod's wife Susan and their two daughters, Maggie and Nolan, and Kerry's
daughter Amelia. He is also survived by his brother Guy M. Maddox and
children Mickey and Trish, in Johnson City, Tennessee. Emery Maddox was
born in Apalachicola and christened there at Trinity Episcopal Church. His
family then moved to Tallahassee and joined St. John's Episcopal Church.
Some of "Deac's" happiest memories were of his childhood in Magnolia
Heights on East Park Avenue between Franklin Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue.
A graduate of Leon High School, he lettered in varsity baseball. He served
in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1945 aboard three different ships in the
Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific war theaters. His war years were a
very meaningful part of his life, and he and his children have compiled
many of his stories into a document that will be treasured always. After
the war, with the support of the GI Bill, he was among the first male
students to attend Florida State. At the time, the Florida State College
for Women (FSCW) did not admit men, so they were enrolled as the
"Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida" (TBUF), which became
Florida State University the next year. On the first day of registration,
he met Martha Wheeler and they were married on June 6, 1948. He was in the
first graduating class of FSU, earning both his bachelor's and master's
degrees there. During that time, he also played semi-pro baseball as a
member of the Tallahassee Capitals Baseball Club in the late 1940's. Emery
spent most of his business career in the telephone industry, serving almost
30 years with Southeastern/Centel/Sprint companies. His last position there
was as Operations Planning Manager. He was a Jaycee, past-President of the
Capital City Kiwanis Club, and past-President of the Florida Independent
Pioneer Telephone Association. What his family remembers most is his love
of his wife and kids, the outdoors, and Apalachicola bay oysters. He was a
dedicated family man and taught his kids how to skateboard, water-ski, walk
on stilts, and to ride horses at the family farm. The family spent summer
vacations camping, mainly in North Carolina, and he loved every minute of
those trips.
|
