Randy Hackle

Randy Wayne Hackle of Cobbtown and Statesboro, devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather; retired farmer, bait-and-tackle salesman and mechanic, left this life Sunday evening, January 3, 2021, after hospitalization for a brief but intense illness. He was 71.

A graduate of Metter High School and Swainsboro Tech, Randy applied skilled hands and a keen mind to continue learning and doing new things throughout his life. From turning family cars into street rods and powering up CB radios in the 1970s and 80s to setting up a machine shop where he milled blocks of steel into precision target rifles in the 90s, he pursued hobbies with an intensity that turned some of them into near professions. A lifelong outdoorsman, he hunted, fished and won awards as a competition marksman.

After becoming a private pilot in the early 2000s, Randy survived a horrific crash but recovered to continue farming and pursued a new hobby, driving hotrod lawn mowers at tractor pulls.

Randy retired from farming after working in partnership with his brother Wendell and their father for two decades. For nearly two decades before that, he was a driver, salesman, fleet mechanic and resident gunsmith with McCorkle Cricket Farm in Metter.

He is survived by his wife of 10 years, Sheryl Williams Hackle; his daughters Jenine Carpenter (husband Corey) and Valerie Strickland (husband Mitch); Sheryl’s sons J.L. Morgan (wife Chelsea) and Jessie Morgan; nine grandchildren and step-grandchildren and five great-grands; and two brothers, Wendell Hackle and Al Hackle. Randy is predeceased by his first wife, Barbara Collins Hackle, and by his parents, Alvie J. and Alvena P. Hackle.

Visitation will be held 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, at Kennedy-Brannen Funeral Home, Metter Chapel, which is in charge of arrangements. The funeral service will be conducted at Evergreen Baptist Church near Metter at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan.7, with Rev. Alan McCoy officiating, and burial in the church cemetery. Mr. Hackle will lie in state in the church one hour prior to the service. Social distancing will be observed, and masks encouraged.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital-Augusta, whose work made the last 15 years of Randy’s active life possible.