Thomas Henry "Tommy" Colley Sr.

Thomas Henry "Tommy" Colley Sr. was a lifelong resident of Pierce County, Georgia, a retired railroad carman, a deacon of Offerman Baptist Church and a sitting member of the Offerman City Council when he died. He was born in Jesup, Georgia, on 16 July 1945 and never left the county he called home, building a life around family, church and community in and around Patterson.

For 36 years he worked for CSX Transportation as a carman before retiring. Alongside that career he became a fixture of civic and religious life in Offerman. He had belonged to Offerman Baptist Church since the early 1980s, serving as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and youth leader. Over a nine-year span he took part in more than thirteen mission trips, giving time and skill beyond his own congregation to help others and share his faith.

Colley was serving his third term on the Offerman City Council at the time of his death. Neighbors knew him affectionately as Brother T and Papa T, names that reflected how central he was to local life. He was remembered for greeting nearly everyone with a hug and for never meeting a stranger. Daily trips to the Breakfast Club at Sweet T's became part of his routine, and he treated the friendships formed there as extended family.

Beyond family, faith and civic work, Colley was one of Pierce County's most devoted supporters of the Pierce County Bears high school athletics program. His obituary said he bled blue and silver, and whether he was in the stands or talking about the team around town, his enthusiasm was widely known throughout the county.

Tommy Colley died on Friday, 25 September 2026, at age 81, at Memorial Health Meadows Hospital in Vidalia, Georgia, following a sudden illness. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Patsy Ruth Cason Colley, three children, six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Visitation and funeral services were arranged at Offerman Baptist Church, with burial at Mill Creek Cemetery near Patterson, and his family asked mourners to wear Bears blue in his honor. Local notices from Pearson-Dial Funeral Home and The Blackshear Times recorded the arrangements and the community's farewell.