James Willard Berry

November 3, 1930 - March 27, 2020

Rev. James Willard Berry, 89, of Rainsville, AL, passed away on Friday, March 27, 2020, at Aiken Regional Medical Centers in Aiken, SC. Public visitation will be Saturday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Rainsville Funeral Home. Family visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. The family requests that guests respect the governor’s orders of nine persons or fewer, with a distance of six feet between each person, during visitation. A private graveside service will be held at 2:30 for the immediate family at Mountain View Memory Gardens, Fort Payne, with Pastor Stephen Story officiating. Rev. Berry was born on November 3, 1930, in Dekalb County, the tenth of eleven children. He graduated from Fyffe High School in 1949 where he was a proud member of the Red Devils football team. He joined the Alabama Army National Guard while still in high school, and enlisted in the Air Force following graduation. He received an honorable discharge as a staff sergeant in 1953 and worked in the private aircraft industry before embarking on a career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. He retired from NASA in 1990. Rev. Berry trusted Jesus as his Savior at the age of 23. He went on to serve as a deacon in his local church, and then worked bivocationaly in local church ministry for many years. He graduated from Samford University in 1983, served as associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Toney, and then as pastor of Hills Chapel Baptist Church, Hazel Green. In retirement, he served as chaplain at Mountain Lakes Resort in Langston where he was instrumental in the planning, construction and operation of the resort chapel. Rev. Berry was preceded in death by his loving wife of 59 years, Gay Nell Wood Berry; his parents, Pat & Polly Berry; five sisters, Emma Estelle Berry Hasty, Novella D. Berry Jones, Ola Mae Berry Smith, Ina Louise Berry and Betty Jean Berry; and five brothers, JP Berry, LD Berry, John Ansel Berry, Calvin Griggs Berry and Grady Donald Berry. He is survived by a daughter, Ramona K. Story of North Augusta, SC; a son, Kent D. Berry and wife, Nancy, of Greensboro, NC; three grandsons, Stephen Story and wife, Dottie, of Augusta, GA, Daniel Story and wife, Marian, of Dearing, GA, and T.C. Williams and wife, Jayme, of Baltimore, MD.; a granddaughter, Amanda Shampine and husband, Jonathan, of Concord, NC; eight great-grandchildren; and a host of nephews, nieces and cousins. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the Downtown Rescue Mission, 1400 Evangel Drive N.W., Huntsville, AL 35816, a ministry that was important to Rev. Berry for many years. https://www.downtownrescuemission.org/