William Roane

ROANE, Sr., Dr. Rev.

William

Rev. Bill Roane, age 93, passed away on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, in LaGrange, Georgia. He is survived by his son, William Bradford Roane, Jr. (Susan P. Hamill); daughter, Mary Susan "Missy" Alise (Joey); grandchildren, William Bradford Roane III, Nancy Lee Roane (Indivar Jonnalagadda), Mary Anna Brown (Kyle), Sara Caroline Oubre (Charlie) and Joseph Alise; brothers, Hearst Roane (Fran), David Roane (Faye) and sister-in-law, Judith Deyerle Windham; great-grandchildren, Tallulah Elizabeth "Tula" Oubre and Mohan James Roane and several nieces and nephews.

Bill was born on May 5, 1932, in Atlanta, the son of the late Elbert Hearst and Greta Bradford Roane, and grew up in Atlanta, attending Highland Grammar School, Bass High School, and Druid Hills High School, Class of 1951. Bill received a Bachelor of Arts from Emory College of Emory University in 1955, after an interim at North Georgia College, where he met Anna Sue Deyerle, whom he married on August 18, 1956. Bill received a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology of Emory University in 1959 and a Doctorate of Ministry from the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1994. While a student, he participated in the National Parks Ministry of the National Council of Churches in Kings Canyon National Park, California, and Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. Bill also studied Eastern religions, often slipping in snippets of Buddhist enlightenment and modern quantum physics into his sermons. As an Ordained Elder in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, with Sue at his side, Bill served as a minister for over forty years in the following churches: Bethany, Aldersgate, Allgood Road, Collins Memorial, University Heights, Glenn Memorial, Clarkston, and Trinity Austell. Bill loved to remind his friends that he did not marry a "preacher's wife," he married Sue, whose life was a ministry in itself, and that he was blessed and supported by her love, until she predeceased him on March 23, 2020. For many years, Bill and Sue shared a cabin with Hearst and Fran on beautiful Lake Burton, where they vacationed together as their children grew up.

A graveside service and celebration of life, directed by the Reverend Donn Ann Weber, will be held on October 11, 2025, at 11:00 AM at the columbarium at the First United Methodist Church of LaGrange, 401 Broad St., LaGrange, GA 30240. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in Bill's name to University Heights United Methodist Church in Decatur, GA.

Higgins Funeral Home at Hunter Allen Myhand, 706-884-5626.