William Melear

Family-Placed Death Notice

William Monroe Melear, age 84, died peacefully at his home in the Rico Community (near Palmetto, GA) on Tuesday, August 2. "Bill" Melear was famous for his pit-cooked barbecue offered daily for nearly 25 years at Melear's Barbecue Restaurant in Union City. Friends, governors, politicians and travelers frequented his restaurant on GA Highway 29 where a few dollars would buy all the barbecue anyone could eat including Brunswick stew and sweet tea prepared by Melear himself and his staff of family and friends. Bill Melear served his specialty until retirement in 1989. Visitors to Melear's Barbecue would find daily a variety of guests including politicians, business people, friends and an occasional celebrity enjoying the famous Melear's barbecue named "Best of Atlanta" in 1978 by the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Bill Melear's involvement in civic and state politics earned him the respect of several governors and numerous state legislators who sought out his comment and support regardless of their party involvement. Gov. Joe Frank Harris named Mr. Melear "Georgia's Barbecue King" in 1985 referring to the barbecue business as an "institution...favored by many," the governor then promptly deemed November 1, 1985 as "Bill Melear Day" in Georgia. The Melear barbecue business and recipes dated back to 1946 when Melear's father, J. V. Melear, began cooking on the same open pit Bill Melear used until his retirement. Mr. Melear was born in 1921 in Newnan, GA to the late J. V. and Ludie Melear. Bill Melear was a veteran of World War II having served in the Pacific theater as a Navy coxswain aboard the USS Charles Carroll. He was a member of Providence Baptist Church in the Rico Community where he lead congregational singing and was a deacon. He was a member and past Master of the Capitol View Masonic Lodge. A member and former president of the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Melear was named "Mr. South Fulton" by his contemporaries. In 2003, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners also honored him by naming a portion of the South Fulton Parkway in his honor. Mr. Melear was preceded in death by his latest great-granddaughter, Annabella Villacci, who died March 2005 at the age of six months from mitochondrial disease. Also preceded him in death were son-in-law, Don Wagner; parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. V. Melear; sister, Florence Pope; and brother, Raymond Melear. He is survived by his wife, Nora Elizabeth (Betty) Smith; three children including daughter, Bonnie Goode and husband, David also of the Rico Community, daughter, Linda Wagner of Newnan, GA and son, Carl Melear, and his wife, Faith of Rome, GA; grandchildren, Melea Goode and fiancee, Greg Brett, Melanie and Rob Riddle, Jennifer and Freddie Villacci, and Conner Melear; four great grandchildren, Elizabeth Grace, Robert and William Riddle and Vincent Villacci; sisters, Dorothy Stephens and Edna Mitchell; and brothers, Marvin, Kenneth and Harvey Melear. Funeral services will be held Friday, August 5 at 3:00 PM at Providence Baptist Church located on GA Hihgway 70 with burial services following at the nearby Rico Community Cemetery. The family will receive friends at C. J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home in Fayetteville, GA on Thursday evening, August 4 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to Providence Baptist Church Building Fund, 6402 Campbellton Redwine Rd., Palmetto, GA 30268 and/or the United Mitochondial Disease Foundation, 8085 Saltsburg Rd., Suite 201, Pittsburg, PA 15239. Carl J. Mowell & Son, Fayetteville. www.mowellfuneralhome.com.