Lonnie Columbus Durden

Lonnie Durden

Funeral services for Mr. Lonnie Columbus Durden, Jr., of Vidalia, will be held on Saturday, December 31, 2016, at 2 PM at the Saint John's African Methodist Episcopal Church, 33 Martin Luther King Drive in Ailey. Reverend James Day will officiate. Interment will follow in the Live Oak Cemetery in Ailey.

Mr. Durden, who passed on December 26, 2016, was born on January 26, 1945, as one of five children of the late Mr. Lonnie Columbus and Viola Durden, Sr. He grew up in Kibbee, Georgia. He was preceded in death by his eldest sister, Flossie (Durden) Jordan.

He graduated in 1965 from Montgomery County High School in Mount Vernon. A Vietnam War veteran, Mr. Durden was decorated with several medals including the National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze service stars, an Overseas Service Bar, and a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device 1960. After his military service, he attended Brewton-Parker College and South Georgia College, served as a correctional officer, and a National Guardsman before working in private security years later.

On December 23, 1976, he married Theresa Green and together they had five children: Andrea Durden of Savannah, Constance Durden of Vidalia, Jennifer Durden of Baltimore, Maryland, Miranda (Tracy) Durden Blair of Vidalia, and Lonnie C. Durden, III, of El Paso, Texas.

Mr. Durden was an incredibly talented person who enjoyed playing the electric bass guitar for nearly 40 years with his bandmates in “Charisma,” woodworking and cabinet making, and volunteering with the Vidalia Chapter of the American Legion. As a devoted husband, father, brother, uncle and loyal friend to many, he leaves to cherish his memories three sons and one daughter, Anthony (Marci) Durden of Petersburg, Virginia, Dennis Durden of Sarasota, Florida, Dafaney (Richard) Drinks Buford of Greenville, South Carolina, and Timothy (Shanta) Drinks of Conyers; three sisters, Lily Mae Brownlee of Opa-locka, Florida; Betty Adams of Vidalia, Jimmy Miller of Vidalia; two brothers, Leroy (Barbara) Durden of Syracuse, New York, and Jarrett “Bobby” Durden of Vidalia; four sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law; and a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins and friends.

The family will receive friends at 1415 Cheney Drive in Vidalia, and also on Friday, 6-8 PM at Solomon Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Vidalia.

Please post condolences at www.ServicesByDudley.com

Services By Dudley Funeral Home of Dublin