By Becky Long
Publisher
Elda “Buck” Carney Jr. was a Purple Heart recipient for his role in the Vietnam War. However, most people in Clay County remember him as a beloved teacher and track coach at Hayesville High School. He died in 2008. Nearly 16 years later, thanks to a close friend, Buck’s ashes have found their way home to a burial site that now includes his son Jimmy and parents Elda and Wilma Carney.
Ken Ball, a former teacher and administrator at the school, purchased a grave marker and arranged for the family to be moved to a burial site near the original Carney property which had been sold through auction. Early in July, with the help of former students Danny Jones and Andy Gibson, Ball reburied the family in a site at the top of a driveway, just off Fort Hembree Road, which he says is easy to find for those wishing to visit.
“I want to thank Ty Baker for his graciousness and generosity for allowing us to put the marker on his property,” said Ball.
“It’s a great sense of relief and accomplishment,” he continued. “As beloved and revered as Buck Carney was, people might appreciate being able to go by to reminisce or put flowers on the grave site.”
Ball expressed love and appreciation to Gibson and Jones for helping set up the grave site and his gratitude to Hayesville Church of God Pastor Mitchell Totherow, who he said has been “very generous in his support.”
When ask how he thought Buck would respond to the attention, Ball said with a grin, “Buck would love it, but he would protest to high heaven.”