VALDOSTA — William Burns Sirmans passed away Sunday, leaving a community mourning the passing of a patriot.

An avid supporter of Moody Air Force Base, Sirmans was integral in the Moody Support Group, hosting dinners and arranging for items to be donated to assist deploying airmen. A lifelong resident of Ray City, Sirmans grew up around the military base and could quote statistics and events from the base’s history as easily as the base historian could.

An article in The Valdosta Daily Times on Oct. 28, 2007, states that Sirmans’ father worked on the base from the time he was born in 1943. Following his mother’s early death, Burns Sirmans brought young William to the base often while he was on the job. He was raised on the base and got a job there as soon as he could as a dispatcher and driver in the Transportation Division.

According to the article, Sirmans started the Moody support group in Ray City in 1976, and he recalled seeing a host of presidents come through the base, including George W. Bush during his pilot training days.

Sirmans also worked for many years at the Department of Labor, and Richard Ramsey, the manager of the Career Center in Valdosta, said, “William was first and foremost a compassionate man who believed in taking steps to alleviate someone's problem in any method open to him. He was quick to look for possible solutions and would often go the extra mile to secure items for Moody troops overseas or wherever he felt he could be of service. William loved Moody AFB and Valdosta with a deep and abiding passion. He will be missed in a great many ways by those who knew him and some who never realized he was involved in the helping hand being extended. William wanted to serve and usually found a way to do so. I will miss his greeting every morning — ‘Anything I need to know about?’ I will miss him...”

In the Times article, Sirmans is quoted as saying, “This community never would have made it without Moody. Moody is the lifeblood of South Georgia, the economic fulcrum of what happens here. We have great leaders from Moody who have retired here and have become part of community leadership... Moody has become our friends and they care about our community. The base is known throughout the world as having the friendliest local community behind it in support. And they have given so much back to us. Moody is us.”

A worship service is planned for 2 p.m. Thursday at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Valdosta, with burial following in Ray City. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday in the sanctuary at Park Avenue United Methodist Church.