SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A funeral and celebration of life has been scheduled for a beloved metro Atlanta coach and teacher Gary Jones who died after drowning in Lake Oconee.
A Celebration of Life for Jones is scheduled on Thursday, March 20 at the Dortch-Williamson Funeral and Cremation Services in Riverdale. The funeral is scheduled on Friday, March 21 at Elizabeth Baptist Church on Cascade Road in South Fulton.
Jones was a teacher and track and field coach at the Westminster Schools, an exclusive Atlanta private school. The empty boat was discovered circling in the water, triggering an intensive search of the lake.
Jones and his fiancée, Joycelyn Wilson, went missing while boating on Lake Oconee in February. Wilson’s body was recovered the following day, but it took several weeks for crews to find Jones’ body.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills said Jones’ body was found by search-and-recovery expert Keith Cormican, the founder of Bruce’s Legacy, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit dedicated to recovering missing persons.