1921
Carl
2016
Carl Corley
December 8, 1921 — November 3, 2016
Carl Vernon Corley, 94, departed Earth on November 3, 2016. A native of Florence, Rankin County, MS, Mr. Corley was a long time resident of Zachary, LA.
After graduating from Florence High School Mr. Corley worked for a year as an outdoor sign painter for Coca Cola Bottling in Jackson, MS. During WWII Carl enlisted in the Marine Corps where he served his country as a scout and sketcher on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. From 1947 to 1961 he worked for the Mississippi Highway Department as a draftsman and illustrator. In 1961 he moved to Baton Rouge to work as an engineering artist for the LA Department of Transportation where he created models, murals, tourist posters of state resources and festivals, manuals, pamphlets, road maps, and traffic surveys. After retiring in 1981, Carl operated Beaux Arts Gallery from his home in Zachary featuring paintings of his treasured south Louisiana and its wildlife.
In his spare time Carl loved working in the idyllic refuge he created inside his home and yard surrounded by the plants and sculpture he collected over the years. He was an avid reader, as well as a prolific writer and illustrator of physique art, utopian science fiction, history, and religion. Carl’s weekly pictorial serial on Louisiana history featuring the composite character Pe'pa Paree ran in the Eunice News in the 1970s and early 80s. Carl attributed his artistic style to the influence of French artist Gustave Dore whose work he had studied as a child in illustrations of an 1889 edition of The Holy Bible owned by his favorite great aunt.
He will be laid to rest in Richland Cemetery, Richland, MS among family members who preceded him in death: his parents Willie Alford and Florence Sims Corley, brothers Fairley and Alton Corley, and sister Thelma Turner (Steve).
Survivors include his baby brother Willie Aubrey Corley Sr. of Sutter Creek, CA, 3 nieces, 4 nephews, and great nieces and great nephews. He is also survived by long time devoted friend and neighbor John Underwood, and his faithful canine and constant companion Skippy who now resides on the rural Mississippi ranch of a great niece where he romps among the cats, dogs, and horses.
The family would like to thank all those who provided care for their beloved Uncle Carl, including staff at Louisiana War Veteran’s Home in Jackson, the V.A. Outpatient Clinic in Baton Rouge and Home Health Services, First Baptist Church Zachary who provided him shelter when his home was ravaged by flood waters in August 2016, and especially Mr. Underwood.
After graduating from Florence High School Mr. Corley worked for a year as an outdoor sign painter for Coca Cola Bottling in Jackson, MS. During WWII Carl enlisted in the Marine Corps where he served his country as a scout and sketcher on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. From 1947 to 1961 he worked for the Mississippi Highway Department as a draftsman and illustrator. In 1961 he moved to Baton Rouge to work as an engineering artist for the LA Department of Transportation where he created models, murals, tourist posters of state resources and festivals, manuals, pamphlets, road maps, and traffic surveys. After retiring in 1981, Carl operated Beaux Arts Gallery from his home in Zachary featuring paintings of his treasured south Louisiana and its wildlife.
In his spare time Carl loved working in the idyllic refuge he created inside his home and yard surrounded by the plants and sculpture he collected over the years. He was an avid reader, as well as a prolific writer and illustrator of physique art, utopian science fiction, history, and religion. Carl’s weekly pictorial serial on Louisiana history featuring the composite character Pe'pa Paree ran in the Eunice News in the 1970s and early 80s. Carl attributed his artistic style to the influence of French artist Gustave Dore whose work he had studied as a child in illustrations of an 1889 edition of The Holy Bible owned by his favorite great aunt.
He will be laid to rest in Richland Cemetery, Richland, MS among family members who preceded him in death: his parents Willie Alford and Florence Sims Corley, brothers Fairley and Alton Corley, and sister Thelma Turner (Steve).
Survivors include his baby brother Willie Aubrey Corley Sr. of Sutter Creek, CA, 3 nieces, 4 nephews, and great nieces and great nephews. He is also survived by long time devoted friend and neighbor John Underwood, and his faithful canine and constant companion Skippy who now resides on the rural Mississippi ranch of a great niece where he romps among the cats, dogs, and horses.
The family would like to thank all those who provided care for their beloved Uncle Carl, including staff at Louisiana War Veteran’s Home in Jackson, the V.A. Outpatient Clinic in Baton Rouge and Home Health Services, First Baptist Church Zachary who provided him shelter when his home was ravaged by flood waters in August 2016, and especially Mr. Underwood.
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