Martha Graham Gilley

Martha Graham Gilley was born on September 19th, 1924 in Memphis, Tennessee. She died peacefully in Atlanta, Georgia on February 21, 2009. Her faith and her family were always her highest priorities. Funeral services will be conducted Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church with The Rev. Thomas Wilson, retired parish priest, officiating. Burial will be in St. John's Churchyard. The family will visit with friends Wednesday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers. Memorials may be made to St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 311 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401 or to the Alzheimer's Association, Mid-South Chapter, 4205 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 216, Nashville 37215. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. Daughter of the late Ralph Graham and Ora Webber Graham, she grew up on Graham Avenue in Memphis as one of 9 Graham children including a twin sister, Elizabeth. She was working at New York Life in Memphis when she met her husband, Joe Gilley, at a USO dance. Married on April 15th, 1950, their union spanned 42 years until his death in 1992. Her childhood desires of having six children and living on a farm were realized after she and Joe moved to Columbia in 1963. She was a communicant of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Columbia from 1963 until 2002 when she moved to Goodlettsville. While making her home in Columbia, she worked as a proofreader for The Daily Herald for 16 years, until her retirement in 1987. She is survived by six children, George Gilley and his wife Roxie of Hampshire, Kyle Gilley and his wife Carol of Bangkok, Thailand, Janice Gilley of Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Gilley and his wife Roxy of Jefferson, Georgia, Frances Puckett and her husband Charles of Atlanta, Georgia, and Marianne Sipe and her husband Alan of Goodlettsville; 10 grandchildren, Anthony Gilley, Jeremy Gilley, Matthew Gilley, Patrick Gilley, Lee Gilley, Graham Gilley, Eden Gilley, Wyatt Sipe, Will Sipe, and Walker Sipe; 3 great-grandchildren; Jack Gilley, Kate Gilley, and Kinsley Gilley; a brother, Edgar Graham of Memphis; and Columbia nephews, Joe Graham and his wife, Mary, and Bill Graham and his wife, Gaetanne. She was preceded in death by sisters, Ora Thompson, Elizabeth Viner, Emma Dillon, Mary Schultz, and Lorena Hurst; and brothers, Joseph Graham and Ralph Graham.