Frances Mae Poole Gravely

Graveside services for Frances Mae Poole Gravely Tan, are at 11:00AM on Wednesday, June 18, in Laurel Hill Cemetery on Carolina St. Rev. Leigh Ann Raynor will officiate.
Mrs. Gravely, 99, died on Sunday, June 15, 2003 at Camellia Gardens of Life Care in Thomasville. She was born November 14, 1903, in Greenville, Alabama, in Butler County. She was a daughter of the late Annie Fowler Poole and Elisha Calvin Poole. On November 28, 1933, she was married in Greenville, Alabama, to the late Dr. William Wallace Gravely of Thomasville, to whom she had been married for 62 years until his death in 1995. For 70 years after her marriage, Thomasville was her home.
After finishing high school in Greenville, Alabama, she graduated from Alabama College in Montevallo, Alabama, and from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, where she received her B S degree in Home Economics Education. She also attended Columbia University in New York and Florida State University. She taught school in Birmingham and Union Springs, Alabama, and for a short time was a faculty member in the Thomasville City Schools.
Mrs. Gravely was an active member of the Thomasville community. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Thomasville where she once served as a Sunday School teacher in the children's department, and where she was recently honored as being the oldest member of the congregation. As a supporter of Archbold Memorial Hospital, she held a lifetime membership in the Archbold Memorial Auxiliary and in the corporation of the hospital. She also had been a dedicated member of the Gray Lady Association volunteers of Archbold Hospital. She was a past member of the Girl Scout Council and was a leader of both Brownie and Girl Scout troops. She was a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia, a past member of the Briarcliff Garden Club, a past member of the Thomasville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a member of an early Thomasville organization know as the Thomasville Study Class. She was devoted and very dedicated to her friends and her family which were truly her lifetime hobbies.
She is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law: Ann Gravely McKinnon and her husband, Charles Wilson McKinnon, Jr. and Frances Gravely Parker and her husband, Joseph LeRoy Parker, Jr., all of Thomasville. Also, she is survived by one sister of eight siblings, Mrs. C. G. Shanks,Bet, 97 of Union Springs, Alabama.
She is also survived by six grandchildren and their spouses: William Charles Bill McKinnon and his wife, Gaye, of Birmingham, Alabama; Elizabeth McKinnon Edge and her husband, Pete, of Greenville, SC; Frances Fran McKinnon Herndon and her husband, Mills, of Thomasville; John Mark Parker and his wife, Carson, of Thomasville; Laura Parker Thompson and her husband, Richard, of Atlanta; and Julia Parker Cook and her husband, Sean, of Atlanta.
Also surviving are 15 great grandchildren: Clayton and Joseph McKinnon, Birmingham, AL.; Lindsey and Michael Edge, Greenville, S.C.; Katherine and Randall Randy Herndon, Thomasville, GA; Jackson and Walker Harris and Joseph Joe and Andrew Drew Parker, Thomasville, GA; William Will and Benjamin Ben Thompson, Atlanta, GA; and Hannah, Bryce, and Lucy Cook, Atlanta, GA.
Also, a large number of nieces and nephews survive, mainy residing in Alabama.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 975, Thomasville, GA. 31799; Archbold Foundation, 910 S. Broad Street, Thomasville, GA., 31792; Brookwood School, 301 Cardinal Ridge Road, Thomasville, GA., 31792 or to any charity of choice. Visitors may sign the online guest register at www.allenfh.com .
ALLEN & ALLEN FUNERAL HOME