Thelma Ethridge Massey

Thelma Ethridge Massey, 85 of Norman Park, died Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, at her home. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2, in Baker Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jimmy Voyles and the Rev. Shane Ashley Officiating. Burial will follow in Salem Baptist Church Cemetery, in Pavo, with Gary Adams, Sam Brown, Jamie Horne, Jeffrey Horne, Wayne Kelley, Greg Key, Stacey Middlebrooks, Scott Murphy, Brian Robinson, Stacey Rutledge serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Mark Galphin, Michael Galphin, Julian Grantham, Ed Gregory, Bruce Hamm, Buddy Horne, Carl Wesley Horne, Russell Johnson, Brian Key, Luke Key, Clarence Lowe, Gene McGahee, Bill Meister, Bob Meister, Randall Rogers, Buddy Sutton and Jimmy Whisnant. Born Sept. 7, 1926, in Pavo, she was the daughter of the late William Grady Ethridge and Mary Lee Hay Ethridge. She graduated from Pavo High School in 1943, Norman Junior College in 1946 and Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro, Ga., in 1959, where she received her elementary education degree. She taught one year in Folkston, six years in Sylvester and 40 years as a fourth grade teacher at Norman Park Elementary School in Colquitt County, where she retired in 1987. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Norman Park and a member of the Women's Missionary Union (WMU) for several years. She was preceded in death by her husband, Cullie B. Massey of 60 years, married, Aug. 17, 1947; and also sisters, Margaret Ethridge Walker and Lillian Ethridge Foreman. Survivors include daughters, Jane Ethridge Massey Hamm and Mary Lynn Massey Lusk, both of Norman Park; grandchildren, Mandy and Taylor Hamm of Norman Park, Whitney Wright of Moultrie, and Jamie Lusk of Norman Park; several nieces and nephews.