Anthony Jack Meredith of Athens, 93, was born February 20, 1927 in rural Athens, Texas, the third of four children of Alfred Henry and Lillian Criswell Meredith. He attended Athens public schools and played football. In 1943 he was selected to be in a group of Boy Scouts to build some of the first trails at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. He was named most popular boy at Athens High School and graduated a semester early in 1945 to join the Navy just before his 18th birthday. He served as a Seaman First Class on the battleship U.S.S. Pennsylvania in the Pacific, surviving a deadly torpedo attack as the ship was in port in Okinawa. After the war he returned to Athens, raised watermelons, attended Austin College in Sherman and Henderson County Junior College, where he met and fell in love with Wanda Daniel from Martins Mill. They were married August 6, 1948 in Canton and lived in Athens, where he worked at the Texan Theatre and then became a salesman, dealership manager and zone manager for International Harvester, moving to Dallas, Sulphur Springs, back to Athens, to Olney and Wichita Falls and Denton and back to Olney, finally settling in Corsicana in 1962 as a sales agent for Sentry Insurance. With Sentry he was consistently a top salesman and was awarded with trips to Jamaica, Mountain Shadows Arizona, Acapulco and Venezuela. Jack and Wanda raised two children and attended First Methodist Church, where he served many years as an usher. He also served as president of the Corsicana Optimist Club and the Mid-Tex Association of Life Underwriters. He retired from Sentry in 1987 to enjoy his grandchildren and travel with family and friends. In 2001, they built a new house on the Meredith Hill place in Athens and moved there, where their neighbors were Jack's older brother Jim Tom and wife Jeanne, and his younger sister Shirley Calhoun. In 2008 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, but until the end, he never lost his quick wit, his playful nature or his love for family. He passed away peacefully on September 7, 2020. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Emajon Meredith Jones. He is survived by his bride of 72 years, Wanda, a brother Jim Tom Meredith, sister Shirley Calhoun, son Mark Meredith and wife Brenda of Athens, daughter Melissa Neyland and husband Don of Daisetta, grand-daughters Jami Meredith Cowart and husband Jarred of Canyon, Kelly Meredith Pruitt and husband Ryan of Nashville, Tennessee and Rebekah Neyland Rardin and fiancé Brandon Perew of Devers, Texas, great-grandchildren Jack and Jacey Cowart, Abbott and Criswell Pruitt, Zoe and Bella Rardin and dozens of loving nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held at 1:00 p.m. Friday, September 11 at Autry's Carroll-Lehr Chapel in Athens, with services to follow at 2:00 p.m. To protect at-risk family members, masks will be required. Pall bearers will be Mike Wood, John Stultz, Don Neyland, Ryan Pruitt, Jarred Cowart, Jeff Wood, Brad Pace and Martin Meredith. Honorary pall bearers will be Alan Daniel, Danny Brock, Larry Brock, Bill Daniel, John Brock, Jeff Brock, Stephen Sparkman, Chuck Carpenter, Michael Anderson, Andy Brock, Daniel Stringer, David Stringer, Brett Daniel, Brian Daniel, Brandon Daniel and Brian Spurling. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association. Services are under the direction of Autry's Carroll-Lehr Funeral Home in Athens. Reverend Faulk Landrum and Brother Matt Faircloth will officiate.