Alvin W. Neely, Jr.

Alvin W. Neely, Jr. died on May 24, 2022 at his home on East Hall Street in Savannah, Georgia.  A loyal native of Waynesboro, Georgia, he was born to Alvin Wilkins Neely, Sr., a Burke County farmer, and Julia Abbot Neely, of Louisville, Georgia on September 29, 1933.  Their only child, he received a genteel upbringing.  He experienced love, affirmation, and a discriminating palate from Ms. Frankie Williams.  He enjoyed an idyllic childhood with his cousin and best friend the late Porter W. Carswell, Jr., who later urged Alvin to move to join him in Savannah, where Alvin was to join a hospitable society.

After a short stint working at his family agricultural concern but found other pursuits preferable. Chief among them, reading fiction, plays, and poetry, driving the country roads in his fire-red Triumph with Flopdoodle I or II, his Basset hounds, riding shotgun.  Or he would write long letters demonstrating his excellent penmanship and the exquisitely dry humor for which he became famous among the legion of friends and acquaintances. Laughter abounded all his life.

His love of language, the education he received from the public schools in Burke County and McCallie School, along with the many Bible verses his mother had required him to memorize, led to his study of literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He quoted from poetry learned then the rest of his life.  Having attended UNC on a naval scholarship, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy, served on the USS Abbott and at the United States Naval Academy. After 4 years with the Navy, he received an honorable discharge at the rank of Lieutenant together with a far worldlier persona and a zeal for travel.

Alvin adhered to the guidance of the Dalai Lama and embodied the Urdu proverb, “Hear everything, then do what you want”. His innate tolerance for and fascination by other human beings made natural his call to teaching.  After receiving his Masters at University of Georgia, he furthered his studies at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins.  Living in Manhattan, he honed his particularly charming style of insouciance in manner and dress. He then taught literature at Westminster School in Atlanta, Armstrong College in downtown Savannah and at the then-new Southside campus, and finally, at Savannah Country Day School. He has been the recipient of a teacher’s greatest reward, the enduring love and respect of his students.

Though he retired young, he never stopped teaching and found more satisfaction in scholarly mentorship as an avocation.  Taking on a career as a gentleman landlord, he created in his grand red brick home designed by William Preston, architect of numerous iconic Savannah historic buildings in the 1980’s, living spaces he made available for rent to artists of all disciplines, writers, thespians, poets, photographers, and free spirits, many of whom found home and haven for the first time in their lives and remained for years.

Savannah and Alvin went well together.  His erudition and personal magnetism enlivened every scene.  Together with theater-lovers Anita and Sidney Raskin, with Jim Holt and Jody Chapin at the helm, City Lights Theater opened on York Lane providing a venue for stage productions of a quality and range never before offered locally.  He hosted many parties, promoted many causes and people, and freely offered his magnificent home on Hall Street as a gathering place for such entities as the English-Speaking Union and Poetry Society, weddings, showings, fundraisers for political candidates of whom he approved, such as the recent such event for Senator Raphael Warnock. His generosity included everyone.  Living frugally himself on rents he often discounted or suspended, he never judged someone in need and instead took great pleasure in sharing what he had with others.

Alvin cultivated his innate gift for happiness and friendship.  He not only tolerated but also sought out a vast range of opinions and enjoyed debating because he had confidence in his own opinions.  He never missed the PBS NewsHour and read widely.  He offered hospitality with equanimity to all sorts, from the acclaimed to the folks who slept in the azalea bushes.  He was a steadfast Democrat and a faithful supporter of the Friends of Tibet, the ACLU, “wounded warrior” charities, and all things associated with UNC and the Navy.  He perfected the art of having fun, concocting and mixing a mean drink, and keeping up with the obituaries and funnies in the daily Savannah Morning News over a prolonged breakfast, followed by a day on the front porch greeting all comers and looking for his favorite postwoman Maria.

Alvin is survived by his chosen family, particularly his friend Keith Howington and his wife Elsie Hill and their sons Levi and Jessie, who gave Alvin the son and family he did not have.

Alvin is the last of the generation of the families into which he made a grand entrance. Of that generation, the survivors are in-laws Eleanor Abbot and Louise H. Abbot, with both of whom he had lifelong friendships.  His numerous first cousins once removed and their progeny remained of loving interest to him.

Alvin Neely possessed a mastery of the art of friendship and filled his own and others’ lives with joy and good humor.  And thus he departed, with a single last sigh, with no fear of the truth as expressed by his friend, poet Conrad Aiken: “Separate we come and separate we go, And this be it known, is all that we know.”

Interment will be at Magnolia Cemetery in Waynesboro, Georgia at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 29, 2022.

DeLoach-McKerley-Prescott Funeral Home & Cremation Service (706-554-3531). You may sign the guest book at www.deloachfuneralhomes.com .