The Rev. John Vernon "Jack" Carney Jr., 88, of Shelbyville, died Monday, October 27, 2025, at The Heart Remembers memory care in Shelbyville.
Visitation will be Thursday, October 30th, from 4:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at Hillcrest Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held 11:00 A.M. Friday, October 31st, at Hillcrest Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens.
A native of Nashville, he was the son of the late John Vernon Carney Sr. and Mary Claire Hunt Carney and the husband of the late Carrie Lee Jones Carney who died in 2010.
He was an educator who served as a teacher and then a vice principal at Cascade School and was a United Methodist pastor for 50 years, from 1972 through 2022, serving numerous rural churches in Bedford, Coffee, Moore and Marshall counties.
He served one term as a member of Bell Buckle Board of Mayor and Aldermen. After his retirement in 2022, he attended Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church, where he had been a pastor on two different occasions.
He was a graduate of West End High School in Nashville, and then, decades later as an adult student, earned three college degrees- a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Middle Tennessee State University, both in psychology and a master's degree in divinity from Trevecca Nazarene University.
He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was a Mason, (Masonic Lodge 143 in Louisville, KY.)
He enjoyed model trains, building model ships, cooking and woodworking. In the late 1970's, he was an announcer for WTCV-FM, a Christian radio station in Shelbyville and was a former member of The Challengers, a Southern Gospel quartet.
In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by two sisters, Willie Mae Harris of Smyrna and Nell Graham of Pewee Valley, Kentucky.
He is survived by four children, John I. Carney of Shelbyville, Elecia Sue Tucker of Linden, Michael (Kelly) Carney of Fayetteville, N.C. and Thomas (Lisa) Carney of Bell Buckle; seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association.
