Haskell H. Dekle

Graveside services for Haskell Hammon Dekle, 89, of Thomasville will be held 10:00AM, Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Rev. Mitch Connor is officiating. Mr. Dekle, son of the late Claude Leslie Dekle and Annie Lee Davis Dekle, died on Sunday, May 31, 2015 at Camellia Gardens of Care in Thomasville after a brief illness. Born September 17, 1925 in Thomas County, he was a 1943 graduate of Thomasville High School. He joined the Army Air Force in 1943, where he attained the rank of Staff Sargent. During World War II, he was a member of the 467th Air Force Bomb group and completed 34 missions over Germany. After completion of his Army Air Force tour, he transferred to the Army Engineers, fighting forest fires in northern California and Oregon. He served also in the Marine Services. He attended Middle Georgia College, Georgia Tech, Southern Technical Institute. While at Southern Technical Institute, he was a member of Tau Alpha Pi honor society and captain of the 1949 tennis team. After graduation from Southern Technical Institute, he went to work for an international architectural firm. He left that company to join his father in a construction partnership where he remained for 25 years. While in the construction business, he worked with many architects and engineers in South Georgia, building churches and fine homes in the Thomasville area. He later became the Institution Engineer at Southwestern State Hospital. While employed at there, he was instrumental in the planning of construction of their new facility. After retirement from Southwestern State Hospital, he was a consultant with the Georgia Department of Human Resources preparing the facility for joint commission survey. He was a member of Gatlin Creek Baptist Church. He loved the outdoors, and enjoyed tennis, golf, hunting, fishing and gardening. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Peggy Ann Dekle, Miriam La Rue Dekle (Herchel) Dillon; Dorothy Imagene Dekle (William) Woodmard; and brother Quinton Leslie Dekle. He is survived by his wife Joan Griffin Dekle of Thomasville; sons, Claude F. Dekle (Rachelle) of Tallahassee, FL; Greg L. Dekle (Lorraine) of Bernalillo, NM; daughter, Nancy Dekle Herring (Mike) of Thomasville; stepson, Thomas Mark Harvey (Teresa) of Papillion, NE; grandchildren Geoffrey Dekle (Aleisha) of Albuquerque, NM; Deanne Dekle of Roswell, NM; Ryan Dekle of Bernalillo, NM; and Derek Dekle of Bernalillo, NM, step grandson Ryan Harvey of Papillion, NE; and one great grandchild, and a host of nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 5PM until 7PM at the funeral home. Guests may sign the online register at www.allenfh.com .