William Wirt Mottley

William W. Mottley, 99, Formerly Of Burkeville, Dies Tuesday, March 24 MARCH 26 — William Wirt Mottley, 99, formerly from Burkeville, entered rewards of glory on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, just three weeks shy of his 100th birthday. He was born April 14, 1915, on the family farm in Nottoway County. Mr. Mottley graduated from Burkeville High School. He worked as a carpenter at Fort Pickett and Fort Bragg, NC until Pearl Harbor was bombed at which time he no longer re-quested a deferment. He was as-signed to the Army National Guard in Maryland, 115th regi-ment, 29th Division Infantry. Af-ter training in Europe, he went in the second wave of the D-Day invasion and continued in the major WWII European battles to the Rhine River in Germany. He earned the rank of Tech Sergeant, as well as the Purple Heart. After returning from the war, he married Eunice McKeithan of Raeford, NC in 1945. He built a home for them using timber off the land. There they raised their four children. He worked for Clays Hatchery before working construction full time. He bought the construction company from his boss’ widow, after his boss passed away, and was a well-respected carpenter, building ad-ditions and remodels. In his spare time, he pursued his true love, farming. During his career, he raised chickens, cattle and to-bacco. Mr. Mottley is leaving behind a beautiful legacy of all the lives he touched by living his life as a gentle, smart, and humble man. He was a very active and faithful member of his church, Bethel United Methodist Church in Jetersville and held numerous leadership positions. After retirement, they traveled to Florida during the winter collecting shells and antiques. They bought and sold at flea markets, and he made shell critters from the shell collection. Upon encouragement from others enjoying his war stories, he wrote his memoirs of WWII. On his 90th birthday, Mr. Mottley went to Farmville Publishing to discuss putting his memoirs in print. His book, A Narrow Strip of World War II: D-Day to the Rhine River in Germany won first place for Best in Print 2005 Graphic Communication Competition. He remained on his farm until 2013 when they moved to Rich-mond. Mr. Mottley is survived by his wife, Eunice McKeithan Mottley; sons, Robert Neil (Janice) Mot-tley of Burkeville, Keith Allen (Linda) Mottley of North Chesterfield, and Earl William (Susan) Mottley of Charlottes-ville; a daughter, Margaret Mottley (Joseph) Oleksa of Hen-rico; six grandchildren, Lisa Mottley (Eric) Burns, Robert Neil (Melissa) Mottley Jr., William Clayton (Linsay) Mottley, Charles Bruce Mottley, Christina Mottley (Benjamin) Dore, and Lawrence William Oleksa; and six great-grandchildren, Robert Evan Burns, Caitlyn Renee Mottley, William Howard Mottley, Cameron Noelle Mottley, William Chase Mottley, and Victoria Taylor Dore. Family will receive friends at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 27 at Bethel United Methodist Church, 6800 South Genito Road, Jetersville. The service will follow at 2 p.m. with interment at Trinity Memorial Gardens, Farmville. Memorial contributions may be made to Bethel United Methodist Church, 6800 S. Genito Road, Jetersville, VA 23083. Puckett Funeral Home, Farm-ville, is serving the family. www.puckettfh.com