On Sunday morning, March 3, 2026, just before sunrise, W. L. (Dub) Lovell, Sr., after a difficult period of illness accepted his invitation to cast off the pain of this world and rise with the morning sun to enter a well-deserved and glorious eternal rest.
Dub entered this life on October 22, 1924. The fifth child of the ten children born to Virgil and Lillie Lovell. He grew up on a large farm where he worked hard alongside his siblings and parents farming the land, and caring for a wide variety of farm animals including the Black Angus cattle that his father helped introduce to this area. Dub attended the Providence School and is a member of Providence Baptist Church.
As a young man he served in the military during the Korean Conflict between January 11, 1945 and November 24, 1946, he served as a Military Policeman. He received the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon, Army of Occupation (Japan), Ribbon Victory Ribbon 2 Overseas Service Bars, and Expert Infantryman Badge.
Dub worked for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for 28 years as a Game Ranger, attaining the rank of lieutenant and later managing the Fish Hatchery at Moccasin Creek in Rabun County, Georgia. Unrealized by many, during these years, Dub was very actively and powerfully successful in advocating to the members of the Georgia Legislature and other influential individuals at the Georgia Capital in Atlanta and around the state for their support of many policies and issues that would aid the Georgia Department of Natural Resources with its mission to manage the rich natural resource of Georgia. He knew and entertained in his home and on his farm every Georgia governor from Herman Talmadge through Sonny Perdue. Dub was known for his wonderful fresh-caught fish fries and has fed many friends and visitors at his home. His ability to move through such a varied group of personalities is due to the fact that Dub treated each person he met the same as an equal and received the same respect back from them. You always knew where you stood with him. He was always willing to help a friend if it was within his power to do so.
Except for a few years at the beginning of his career when he was stationed in such locations as Social Circle and Conasauga, Georgia, he lived his life in or no more than a few miles from Batesville with his family. Continuing to support the DNR as well as his community. An example, he was the driving force instrumental in securing the placement of a volunteer fire department in the Batesville community. Dub watched over his family, and lived a long, fulfilling, eventful and influential life and will be remembered and greatly missed by the many people whose lives he touched and all his friends and family who loved him.
Dub is preceded in death by his parents, Virgil and Lille K. Lovell, and his siblings and their spouses: V. L. Lovell and Blondine Lovell, Lillie Marie Lovell Barron and Sion Barron, Irene Lovell Blalock, and Woodrow Blalock, R. L. Lovell and Murvine Lovell, Carlos Lovell and Ruby Lovell, V. C. Lovell and JoAnne Lovell, Earl Lovell and Janice Lovell. Also preceding Dub in death are wife Thelma Garrish Lovell, and wife Irene Allen Lovell, and daughter Patsy Lovell Christopher.
Dub is survived by siblings and their spouses: Fred Lovell and Yvonne Welborn Lovell, and Judy Lovell Rea. Children and spouses: Ann Lovell Vandiver Braudy and Douglas Braudy, Peggy Lovell Cantrell Huffman and Stewart R. Huffman, W. L. (Buddy) Lovell, Jr. Grandchildren and spouses: Scott Cantrell and Hortencia (Abi), Ang’ele Cantrell and Michael McLaine, Travis Morgan Lovell, Jamieson Paul Lovell, Tyler Cody Barnes and Jordan Barnes, Adam Lovell, Katie Irene Christopher Shockley and Matt Shockley, Matthew Christopher. Chelsea Lindsey, Carleen Monti, Kirsten Lindsey. Daughter-in-law: Judith C. Lovell. Great Grandchildren: Patsy Folds, Zack Lovell, Alexandria (Andi) Lovell, Waylon Barnes, Katherine Shockley, Kaitlyn Shockley, Kylie Annette ‘Pumpkin’ Miller, Charlotte Tyre, Evelyn Watts, Bo Monti, Brantley Keller, Drake Keller, Oaklee Dawson.
We appreciate the support provided by the caring Hospice nurses and aids who have been there for us. The entire Lovell family are so grateful for the loving care that our amazing caregiver Amber Cook Gragg has given Daddy during the past two years.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Hillside Memorial Chapel, with Rev. Eddie Tanner officiating. Interment will follow the service in Providence Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, from 2-4 PM and 6-8 PM.
Online condolences may be sent at www.hillsidememorialchapel.com.
Arrangements are in the care and professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens, Clarkesville, GA. 706-754-6256
