Funeral services for Courtney Lane Terwilliger Jr., age 75, of Swainsboro, were held Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, at 2 p.m. at Nunez Baptist Church with Reverends Jim Harrell and Tommy Kirby bringing the Word. He was laid to rest afterward at Moore Cemetery near Swainsboro.
The Terwilliger Family received friends Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Chapman Funeral Home.
He went home to be with the Lord Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, at his residence following a brief illness.
For all that would eventually be written about Courtney Terwilliger, his story is really one about family.
After all, family was at the core of who Courtney was, something made evident by the pride he took in his roots and, later, by his decision when given the chance to pass on the family name.
He was born September 14, 1951, in Jacksonville, Fla., to the now-late Courtney Terwilliger Sr. and Mamie Moore Terwilliger.
His father was a native of upstate New York, but his mother hailed from Emanuel County.
When Courtney was 5-years-old, the death of his maternal grandmother brought the family to the area so his father could help with the family farm, and from then on, Emanuel County was home.
Years later, in an interview for the local newspaper, Courtney would say family was the very reason he remained here. His family was here, as was the family of his eventual bride, Toni, and so became Emanuel County, the place Courtney Terwilliger Jr. would, in fact, rear his own.
In 1982, Courtney and Toni married and began building that family together.
They went on to raise two children of whom he was immensely proud, daughter Ivy and son Courtney Lane Terwilliger III.
Courtney’s pride in his family and the roots from which he came was made especially evident when, given the opportunity, he passed on the family name on to his son, the third generation to bear it.
What that family life looked like was often simple, and Courtney liked it that way.
He loved sitting on the back deck with his family watching the sun set, roasting oysters when fall rolled around, and spending time at the farm, especially when there was an excuse to climb onto the tractor.
At the center of that family life was Courtney’s faith.
He took seriously the charge of Joshua 24:15, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” and led his family as head of household accordingly, ensuring Toni, Ivy, and Courtney were present at Nunez Baptist Church, where he also served as a deacon.
Importantly, though, Courtney’s faith was never confined to a pew or a Sunday morning.
On any given spring or summer day, Courtney could be found at the church cutting grass, tending to the grounds, and quietly tending to the Lord’s House and tendering the flames of his relationship with Christ.
Put simply, Courtney lived out his faith through service.
What Courtney practiced first in his home and church (faithful, hands-on service) would come to define a professional legacy of extraordinary breadth, reaching from Emanuel County to the highest levels of emergency medical services leadership in Georgia and, in some cases, even across the country.
Fittingly, his almost-five decades career began rather unassumingly.
As a young, single man in 1976, Courtney enrolled in an emergency medical technician (EMT) course simply because he wanted to put two otherwise unproductive nights each week to good use and learn what to do, should an emergency arise.
He enjoyed the training and when an opportunity to turn that newfound knowledge into a profession presented itself, Courtney took it.
What began almost casually would become his life’s work and, in Courtney’s eyes, something much greater. He would later reflect in that same interview with the local paper that emergency medical services had not necessarily been his plan, but “God’s calling.”
Courtney joined Emanuel County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in 1977 and just two years later, he was named director.
He earned his paramedic license in 1982 and remained at the helm of the agency until his retirement in October 2021, concluding 44 years of service to Emanuel County EMS.
To understand the scope of Courtney’s professional life, however, is to understand that his service was never contained within the borders of Emanuel County.
As his experience grew, so did the reach of his leadership; Courtney propelled himself into a familiar and respected voice over the years, shaping EMS as a profession throughout Georgia.
He served the Region 6 EMS Council in numerous leadership capacities, including as chairman and vice chairman, and he later represented the region on the Georgia EMS Advisory Committee. Courtney served as chairman of that committee for 12 years while continuing to lend his experience and perspective to issues affecting EMS providers statewide.
Courtney also understood the value of strength in numbers.
He worked alongside other EMS leaders to help unite the Georgia EMS Directors Association and the Georgia EMS Association into one organization, now known as the Georgia EMS Association, or “GEMSA.” Courtney became the organization’s first elected chairman and remained in that role for 14 years, helping establish a stronger collective voice for EMS professionals throughout the state.
Perhaps nowhere, though, was Courtney’s desire to support his profession more evident than in his commitment to education.
Courtney believed good leaders should not simply know their jobs; they should be given the tools, knowledge, and confidence necessary to lead others well.
In 2010, he secured grant funding through the Georgia Office of Rural Health to develop a comprehensive leadership curriculum for current and aspiring EMS directors. Working alongside GEMSA and Georgia Southern University’s College of Public Health, Courtney helped turn that idea into a program capable of preparing EMS leaders for challenges far beyond the back of an ambulance. Additional grant funding followed in 2011, allowing the program to become a reality.
Fifteen years later, more than 450 EMS leaders had been trained through the program, each carrying some measure of Courtney’s knowledge and vision back into communities throughout Georgia. He remained connected to that mission through the GEMSA Leadership Alumni Association, continuing to support and encourage the leaders who followed behind him.
For a man who spent so much of his career championing education for others, Courtney was equally willing to remain a student himself. He first earned an associate degree in biology and later attended the University of Georgia to study forest resources.
Then, after decades already spent building an accomplished career in public safety, Courtney returned to higher education and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Fire and Emergency Services Administration from East Georgia State College. Clearly, education was something Courtney expected of the profession he loved, but it was also an expectation he continued to place on himself.
His devotion to education and professional development carried naturally into another of Courtney’s enduring areas of influence: trauma care, particularly in rural Georgia.
In 2013, Courtney was appointed to the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission by the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. His service there would continue through subsequent appointments in 2017, 2021, and 2025. As chairman of the commission’s EMS Subcommittee, Courtney helped advance trauma care while expanding educational opportunities for the EMS professionals charged with providing it.
Through funding provided by the Georgia Trauma Commission, GEMSA was able to dramatically expand access to EMS education. In 2021 alone, more than 104,000 hours of training were delivered to emergency medical professionals, an impact that reached far beyond any one classroom, ambulance service, or county.
Even one of Courtney’s final projects reflected the same priorities that had guided him for decades. He was instrumental in managing a Trauma Commission-funded initiative incorporating the military’s MARCH-PAWS training principles into programs designed specifically to improve trauma care in rural Georgia.
In time, Courtney’s knowledge and experience became valued at the highest levels of state government.
In 2014, Gov. Nathan Deal appointed him to represent the EMS profession on Georgia’s State Ebola Task Force during a period of heightened public health concern.
Then, eight years later, Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Courtney to the State Healthcare Workforce Commission, where his decades of experience gave him a voice in conversations surrounding the challenges facing Georgia’s healthcare workforce.
Through all of that statewide work, Courtney never stopped serving Emanuel County.
After retiring from EMS in 2021, he accepted the role of Emanuel County Public Safety Coordinator and Emergency Management Agency Director, proving retirement for Courtney never really meant stepping away from service.
In that capacity, he helped lead the modernization of the countywide radio communications system and played an instrumental role in establishing the Emanuel County Mass Notification System, steeling the way local public safety agencies and citizens receive critical information during emergencies.
A career of that magnitude naturally brought recognition, although accolades never seemed to be the point of Courtney’s work.
Over the years, he received the Swainsboro Exchange Club’s Book of Golden Deeds Award, the Georgia Association of EMS Excellence in Leadership Award, the Dr. Zeb Burrell Jr. Distinguished Service Award, the Governor’s Public Safety Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession, and the EMS Director of the Year Award.
One honor, however, ensured Courtney’s name would continue traveling through the profession long after his own career ended.
In 2019, GEMSA renamed its annual chairman’s award to the Courtney Terwilliger Chairman’s Award, forever tying his name to the recognition of future EMS leaders.
It was fitting for a man who had spent a lifetime passing things forward: first, his family’s beloved forename; professionally, what he knew, investing in hundreds of EMS leaders who would, in turn, serve innumerable more; and, finally, an honor that, even posthumously now, will continue recognizing the kind of leadership he spent his career encouraging in others.
Still, for all Courtney accomplished and all the lives his work touched, the roles that mattered most to him were never accompanied by a title or an award. He was Toni’s husband, Ivy and Courtney’s father, a brother, uncle, friend and faithful servant of Christ. Public service was certainly the work of his life, but family was the heart of it.
Courtney leaves behind a legacy measured not only in stronger systems, better trained leaders, or safer communities, but in the people he loved, the example he set, and the service he inspired in others.
His was a life spent giving of himself, first at home and then everywhere else God gave him an opportunity to serve.
No doubt, as Courtney entered Heaven’s gate, he heard the words every faithful servant longs to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Waiting on the other side were his mother and father, Courtney Lane Terwilliger Sr. and Mamie Moore Terwilliger, who preceded him in death.
He leaves behind his bride of 44 years, Toni Phillips Terwilliger; darling daughter Ivy Danielle Terwilliger; proud son, Courtney Lane Terwilliger III; brothers, John Terwilliger and Henry (Paulette) Terwilliger, all of Swainsboro; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Danny and Robin Stevens; and several nieces, nephews, and many friends.
Pallbearers were Terry McCorkle, Nicky Drake, Gary Pinard, Paul Terwilliger, Cook Terwilliger, Elijah Moore, Ricky Thompson, and Jim Sherrod.
Honorary pallbearers were Emanuel County EMS, Emanuel County Fire & Rescue, and the Exchange Club of Swainsboro.
In spirit of the life Courtney lived, his family is choosing to honor his memory by continuing his lifelong habit of helping others. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions made in Courtney’s memory be directed to The Sunshine House Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (328 West Main Street, Swainsboro, Ga., 30401) or the Emanuel Medical Center Foundation (117 Kite Road, Swainsboro, Ga., 30401).
Chapman Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
