Wallace Terry Tanksley

Wallace Terry Tanksley, age 86, died peacefully on July 6, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia. He lived a long life and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Wally was born December 4, 1939, to Adger Lee Tanksley and Esther Angeline Eller Tanksley, in a section house of the Southern Railway in Alto, Georgia. He was the youngest of ten children; his eldest sibling was 19 years older. His father was a way-of-maintenance foreman for the railroad and an active member of his union. Soon after he was born, the family moved to Seneca, South Carolina, where Wally grew up.

Wally’s childhood home was full of siblings and visiting relatives and nieces and nephews not far from his own age. He attended Seneca High School, where he played football despite wearing glasses, thanks to a local optometrist and football fan who fitted him with contact lenses. While in school, Wally worked at a men’s clothing store in Seneca and at the local Jantzen factory. After graduating, he continued working at Jantzen to put himself through nearby Clemson University. He graduated in 1963 with a degree in Economics. He then enrolled in graduate studies in Economics at the University of Georgia in Athens. Before completing his master's degree, he accepted an opportunity with General Electric that launched the career.

While in UGA, he met Janet Elizabeth Johnson of Athens. Their first date was to Allen’s in Normaltown. They were married in First Presbyterian Church of Athens on July 10, 1966.

Wally was recruited by General Electric to join one of its elite management development programs. His first assignment took him to Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he worked at the NASA Mississippi Test Facility, operated by GE for NASA. While there, Wally and Janet witnessed a static test firing of the second stage of the Saturn V rocket that would power the Apollo missions to the moon. With GE, he moved every few years for assignments in locations including Linton, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Schenectady, New York; and Madisonville, Kentucky.

In 1973, he answered an ad in The Wall Street Journal, quit his job, and moved the family (now with three children aged three, four, and five) to Clermont-Ferrand, France, to join an early-stage international program with Michelin. Along with a group of other Americans, he worked in various parts of the company, including time on the factory floor assembling tires, to better understand Michelin’s operations and corporate culture before the company launched manufacturing in the U.S. After a year, the family returned to the U.S. and to GE.

Over the course of his career, Wally worked in labor relations, employee relations, and human resources for GE and the public utility companies Public Service Company of New Mexico and The Tennessee Valley Authority. These jobs took the family to Greenville, South Carolina; Bolingbrook, Illinois; Clifton Park, New York; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lebanon, Pennsylvania; and Knoxville, Tennessee. Having grown up with a father who was both a railroad foreman and a union member, Wally appreciated the perspectives of both management and labor, an understanding that served him well throughout his career.

In 1999, Wally retired from the corporate world, moved to Atlanta, and went back to school, earning a master’s degree in Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University. After graduating, he established his own mediation practice, which he continued until 2022. From 2010 to 2013, he served as a part-time instructor in Kennesaw State University's Department of Political Science and International Affairs, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution. In addition to his mediation practice, he served as a labor arbitrator, selected jointly by the parties to resolve labor disputes.

Wally was a life-long learner and loved traveling and meeting new people. He learned horseback riding in his early 40s, and took up skiing in the mid-1980s, earning the nickname “Jean-Claude Wally.” While with GE, he traveled to 37 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and brought home interesting stories and treasures to his family. On one of those trips, he finally gave up using his father’s pocket watch, which was too delicate to handle all the time changes.

He traveled for pleasure throughout Europe and took a few trips to South America and Russia. He also took advantage of Georgia’s free university classes for older residents, choosing courses that fit his schedule and excelling in every one. Wally read The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic every day.

He was a patron of the arts and served on the boards of directors of many arts organizations, including the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, Southwest Ballet in Albuquerque, and the Hershey (Pennsylvania) Symphony. He also served on the boards of the Delaware Valley Council of Youth Hostels of America in Philadelphia, and the Association for International Practical Training in Maryland.

Wally and Janet raised three children: Beth Koplan, a paralegal living in Ellijay, Georgia; Richard Tanksley, a technology entrepreneur in Atlanta; and Lynn Tanksley, a software engineer in Plano, Texas.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Janet; his three children; granddaughters Camille and Claudia Tanksley of Atlanta and Phoebe Alves of Boston, Massachusetts; his sister Dottie Guyton of Loganville, Georgia; and countless loved nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He is preceded in death by his parents, and siblings Jeptha Tanksley, Jo Brown, Monteen Davis, Lorena Powell, Dick Tanksley, Bonnie Watkins, Verlyn Tanksley, and Hollis Tanksley.