William Pope "Billy" Langdale Sr.

VALDOSTA — Well-known figure William Pope “Billy” Langdale Sr., 88, passed away Saturday at his home, following several years of battling health issues.

Langdale served as the Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission from 1960 to 1976, as chairman of the Georgia Department of Transportation board for two years and, lastly, as the Second Congressional District representative on the DOT board, a post he held for more than 25 years. He never missed a single meeting in all those years, no matter where in the state it was held. Upon his retirement from that post, both the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution in 2008 honoring him for his many years of service to the state.

Langdale received many accolades during his decades years in the public eye, including being named as one of Georgia Trend magazine’s “100 Most Influential Georgians” as well as South Georgia Business magazine’s list of the “Most Influential South Georgians.”

Very active until recent years, when health issues sidelined him, Langdale was still driving himself and traveling all over Georgia as the region’s representative on the DOT board. He was instrumental in numerous local projects, from Highway 84 improvements to a number of smaller highways, including Bemiss Road and the six-laning of Interstate 75. He was hard at work for years on a project that never came to fruition, the four-laning of Highway 133 between Valdosta and Albany. The portion of Hwy. 133 between Valdosta and Moultrie is named “Billy Langdale Highway” in his honor.

Concerning his time on the county commission, Langdale boasted in a Times interview, “I paved 150 miles of roads during my time and it didn’t cost the county a nickel for right-of-ways. People just signed them over to Lowndes County.”

He was on the county commission when zoning laws were initially passed, and he presided over meetings for 16 years, many of which were held in a small chamber in the basement of the County Courthouse.

Langdale also served as a U.S. Marine for 10 years and faithfully attended Veterans’ Day ceremonies and was active in his support of Moody AFB. He received a bronze star, retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Langdale is the youngest son of Judge Harley Langdale, and his older brother, Harley Langdale Jr. is still the active patriarch of the forestry side of the family.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Jackie, who passed away in 1999. Their children are sons Bill and Bob, and daughter Lyn Dickey, with 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

A member of the family commented Saturday that “those who knew him well knew him to care more about others than he did for himself. He always put others first.”