By Mariah Congedo | January 31, 2021 at 10:36 PM EST - Updated February 1 at 4:23 AM
GLENNVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - A local historian in Glennville is being remembered by family and friends after he was found dead in his home early Saturday morning.
“Yesterday’s events have just shook this whole community to the core,” said Dylan Mulligan, a lifelong family friend.
It was here where alarms rang just after midnight on Saturday. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says 88-year-old Bobby Kicklighter’s son found him dead with gunshot wounds.
“Mr. Bobby Kicklighter was really a pillar of our community,” said Mulligan.
GBI says the scene looked like a home invasion and the man inside was a target. A man who’s well-known in Glennville, where he planted his roots.
“He was born right here in Glennville in 1932, served in the Korean War and then he couldn’t get back to Glennville fast enough. Back home to Ms. Betty, his wife.”
Mulligan says Kicklighter was very involved in his church, dedicated to his family and a local historian.
“He was my go-to person. Any time I needed to know something about the town or about its history all I had to do was pick up the phone and call Mr. Bobby.”
Kicklighter served on the Board of Trustees of the Glennville-Tattnall Museum and was inspired to preserve the community’s past. In doing so, Mulligan says, moving the old museum to the Glennwanis Hotel was a restoration project Kicklighter was very excited to be a part of.
“Everybody knew him. Everybody loved him.”
This is why Mulligan and Kicklighter’s family are urging someone to come forward if they have any information.
“We just never would’ve expected something of this horrific nature,” said Mulligan. “Everybody’s scared and everybody wants answers.”
For generations, Kicklighter walked the streets of Glennville and Mulligan says he had no enemy. Kicklighter’s memory, Mulligan says, will carry on as his mark on the town will forever be upheld.
“We cherish his memory and I regret it for the people who never did get to know him because he really just was a wonderful person to have in your life and to be a friend.”
The GBI is still looking into whether Kicklighter’s death was a random or targeted act, but they do believe foul play was involved.
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