Owen Lamar Studstill, Sr., 86, of Mendota passed away unexpectedly at his home on February 21, 2019.

A graveside service at a later date will be held at Magnolia Park Cemetery in Warner Robins, Georgia. Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota is handling arrangements.

Born August 22, 1932 in Rhine, Georgia, he was the youngest son of Charlie Bill and Estelle (Cravey) Studstill. He married Doris Ann Atkins on January 1, 1954 in Warner Robins, Georgia. She preceded him in death on August 29, 2007.

He is lovingly remembered by his family; sons, Owen Lamar "Lee" (Melinda) Studstill, Jr., of Arlington and Cole (Kim) Studstill of Peru; granddaughters Anna (Ross Butler) Studstill of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Summer Studstill of Arlington.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Clayton Studstill.

Lamar received a master's degree from Emory University in Atlanta and entered the ministry as a youth director at Warner Robins, Georgia, First Methodist Church where he met Doris, who soon became his wife for the next 53 years. In the late 1950's, Lamar worked as a disc jockey at a variety of radio stations, playing the brand new music format, Top 40 Radio, as the morning DJ in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama, and Macon, Georgia, with a hiatus in the 1960's when he reentered the ministry, becoming the pastor at Methodist churches in Valdosta and Leslie, Georgia. While at Leslie, he met and befriended a then State Senator named Jimmy Carter, who invited Lamar to lead the Georgia legislature in Atlanta in prayer before a session in the mid 1960's. Lamar eventually became a school teacher, teaching and coaching sports in Middle Georgia at Twiggs County Schools, Tattnall Square Academy, Barnesville Academy, and Warner Robins School system from the early 1970's to the early 1980's. It was at Barnesville that he coached the varsity boys basketball team to a state title in its association in 1979. During this period, Lamar still dabbled in radio, working part time as a news reporter at an AM station in Macon, Georgia, broadcasting High School Football for a Warner Robins, Georgia, radio station, and broadcasting high school state playoff basketball games from the Macon Coliseum to stations all over the state of Georgia.

In 1982, Lamar, with his family, purchased their first radio station, buying two stations in Swainsboro, Georgia. From there, he purchased stations near Macon, Georgia and Pana, Illinois, and his family discovered a great station for sale in Mendota, Illinois that they purchased in 1988, and decided to make their home in LaSalle County, Illinois. Several other radio stations in the area were eventually purchased, and Lamar, in addition to helping manage the radio stations, enjoyed working as the morning personality for WGLC-FM in Mendota, Illinois, during the 1990's.

Lamar always had a soft spot for all children, but he especially doted over his grandchildren, Anna and Summer, as they grew up. He commemorated their childhoods by writing two books about them, with the book about Anna being published in 2006 upon her graduation from Mendota High School, and Summer, in 2014, upon her graduation from LaSalle-Peru High School.

In celebration of Lamar's love of children, please direct any memorial donations to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.