NATCHEZ — Masonic graveside services for Tyrol B. Coley, 89, of Natchez, who died Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, at Natchez Community Hospital, will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Burial will follow under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Mr. Coley was born July 4, 1921, in Prairie Grove, Ark., the son of Adonega and Cora Coley. He was a cherished husband, father, grandfather and brother.

Mr. Coley entered military service in the U.S. Army in 1938. Discharged just before the outbreak of World War II, he re-enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp. There he obtained the rank of captain and was highly decorated while serving as a bombardier on B-24 Liberators, with the 15th Air Force, 451st Bombardment Group (H), 49th wing, 726th squadron stationed outside of Foggia, Italy. After the war he attended Wayne State University in Detroit where he received his master’s degree in geology.

Mr. Coley went to work for Carter Oil Company and was sent to work in northwest Louisiana. It was there that he met his wife, Violet S. Coley. After leaving Carter Oil Company, he went to work in Magnolia, Ark., for Exploration Drilling, Inc. In 1961, he took a job with Hughes and New Oil Company in Natchez. Ty and Stanley Parks formed Par-Co Drilling, Inc., in 1973 and later started Alpine Well Service, Inc. After selling Par-Co and Alpine in 1998, to his partner for a number of years, Ty entered semi-retirement until his death.

Ty was a Master Mason of Harmony Lodge No. 1 and Andrew Jackson No. 2 and a member of the Wahabi Temple Shrine Club. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Natchez. He was a member of the Mississippi Geological Society, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, past member of the Shreveport Geological Society and the International Association of Drilling Contractors. He had a true love for flying and had obtained his private pilot license. In connection with flying, he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol, the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Commemorative Air Force. There was nothing he loved more than giving someone a ride in an airplane and no memory was better than that of three small children strapped in the back seat of a piper cub porpoising through the air and squealing with delight as if on a roller coaster.

Mr. Coley was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Tyrol C. Coley; three brothers, Ray Coley, A.J. Coley and Curtis Coley; and one sister, Opal Coley.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years; one son, Alan J. Coley of Natchez; one daughter, Tyla A. Fuqua and husband, Robert H. Fuqua; three grandsons, John Tabor “Tab” Fuqua, Robert Hunter Fuqua and Tyrol Alan Fuqua, all of Baton Rouge; one sister, Marian Eriksen of Bradenton, Fla.; two sisters-in-law, Hazel Hickey of Longview, Texas and Wilma Sebren of Shreveport, La.; and a number of nieces, nephews and friends.

He loved an was loved by a number of people and will be dearly missed. Memorials may be made to the Shriners Children’s Hospital, the American Cancer Society, the National Emphysema Foundation or a charity of choice.

Online condolences may be sent to www.lairdfh.com.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence; hov’ring there.

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

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