John Rufus Massey

October 30, 1926 ~ January 23, 2025
Born in:
North Carolina
Resided in:
Georgia
John Rufus Massey, a proud American and World War II army veteran, went home to the Lord on January 23, 2025.
He was the second of twelve children born to the late L. B. And Roxie Massey. John was born and grew up in Orange County, North Carolina. He was born at home on October 30, 1926 and attended Williams High School in Burlington, NC and Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
In addition to his parents, John was preceded in death by his older brother Robert Massey and younger brothers James L Massey and Melvin Massey, son-in-law Walter Weller as well as several in-laws, nieces and nephews.
John is survived by his three children: Gail Weller, John H Massey (Louann) and Pat Pruitt (Dean), two grandsons Greg Weller (Kati) and Brad Pruitt (Lacey), step grandson Jerry Henderson (Jennifer), his great grandchildren Grady Weller, Rhett Weller, Hannah Pruitt and Austin Pruitt, and step great grand daughters Kaitlyn Henderson and Lauren Henderson.
Surviving siblings are Bernice Massey, Beatrice Cook, Lou Blair, Frank Massey (Mary), David Massey, Becky Mitchell, Alice Allen and Jean Mills (Steve) all of North Carolina, many nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews.
In WWII, John served as a Private under General Patton in his sixth army. He was stationed in Northern Italy and talked about combat in the fox hole trenches. In the past few years, he began to talk about being a marksman and shooting the M-1 rifle. He always enjoyed leading the Veterans Day Parade in Gwinnett County and proudly wore his WWII Veteran hats.
Following the war, he was employed by Western Electric and Bell Laboratories until his retirement in 1989. While at Bell Labs, he was issued several patents and worked on high national security projects such as the Hercules Missile Defense System and the red line in the Pentagon. After being transferred to Atlanta, he worked in telecommunications where he designed the Type 2 closure.
John enjoyed two annual trips with his brothers; one to attend the Daytona 500 and play golf (which was his favorite pastime) and the second to Harkers Island to go deep sea fishing and flounder gig. He was an avid golfer and shot below his age well into his 90s. He was also a really good bridge player and played until Covid. His grandsons and great grandchildren were blessed to have him attend many of their sporting events and he greatly enjoyed that.
As a charter member of Lawndale Baptist Church, John was involved in many church projects and managed the men’s softball team for several years. In GA, he was a member of the Galilean Baptist Church.
Arrangements are being made for a Celebration of Life service which will be held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Mebane, NC. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Tabernacle Baptist Church 523 N Charles Street Mebane, NC 27302.
life. I hope he and my Mom get to visit in heaven.