Edsel Coolidge Strickland

OZARK… Mr. Edsel Coolidge Strickland, a resident of Ozark, left his home on earth to go to his home in Heaven on Thursday evening, March 30, 2023, in Dale Medical Center. He was 95.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 P.M. Sunday, April 2, 2023, in the Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home Chapel with Chaplain Adam Mulliner officiating. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Memory Gardens. Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home of Ozark is in charge of arrangements. The family will receive friends from 2:00 until 3:00 P.M. Sunday at the funeral home.

Mr. Strickland was born in Dale County on November 26, 1927, to the late Jesse W. Strickland and Tempie Dell Strickland. He attended Skipperville and Ozark schools. Mr. Strickland was married to Betty Doris Arrington of Daleville on January 30, 1950, and was a devoted husband for seventy three years. He was also a loving and devoted daddy to his two sons, Michael E. Strickland (Donna) and Randal C. Strickland, a loving PawPaw to his grandchildren, Kimberly Ann Strickland and Natalie Nicole McCord, Dennis McCord, and great-grandchildren, Taylor and Eli McCord. Mr. Strickland was very dedicated and faithful member of Hillcrest Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon for over fifty years until his health failed. He served in many capacities in the church.

Mr. Strickland was preceded in death by his parents, and granddaughter, Kimberly Ann Strickland; brothers, Jesse Lawrence Strickland and his wife, Jeanette, Calvin Odell Strickland; sister, Margaret Mozell Worsham and her husband, Joe Worsham and a brother-in-law, Roy Payne.

Surviving relatives include his loving wife, Betty Doris Arrington Strickland; two sons, Michael Edsel Strickland and his wife, Donna and Randal Craig Strickland; his granddaughter, Natalie McCord, and her husband, Dennis; two great-grandsons, Taylor and Eli McCord; two brothers, Billy Strickland and his wife, Myrlene, and Donald Strickland and his wife, Linda; a sister, Janie Payne; several nieces and nephews.

Mr. Strickland served his country with honor and distinction in the military, including two years of active duty in the Korean War from 1950 until 1953. He also served in the Alabama Army National Guard from 1946 until 1958. Mr. Strickland retired in 2004 after fifty-four-year career with his company, Strickland Logging Company. In his spare time, he enjoyed his horses, watching family fish, and quail and pheasant hunting.

Serving as active pallbearers will be Wes Strickland, Bill Strickland, Reid Strickland, Wade Strickland, Tommy Farmer and Keith Woodham.

The family would like to thank Dale Medical Home Health and Community Hospice for their loving care and healthcare, the sitters, Debbie Hancock and Jackie Sandlin, who were a blessing to the family.