Jean Winningham Thurston

Jean Winningham Thurston, 85, of LaFollette, died April 19, 2005. She was born in Cumberland Valley Lumber Camp in Fentress County and grew up in Oneida and Knoxville. She graduated from Central High School in Knoxville and received a degree in business from the University of Tennessee. She taught for many years in the Memphis City Schools system and worked as a volunteer in the literacy program and as a docent for Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Memphis. Her hobbies were travel, golf, reading, bird watching and wildflower searches, and she loved the poetry of Robert Frost. She was preceded in death by her husband, James B. Thurston, and two sisters, Wilda Johnson of Knoxville and Kim Yates of Arlington, Texas. Her survivors include her sister Evelyn Jeffers and four children: Becky Robinson and her husband Blythe, James H. Thurston, Kay Finch and her husband Steve, and Linda Thurston. She had four grandchildren: Stuart Finch, Kelly Finch, Bill Robinson and Jonathan Robinson, and several great-grandchildren. Funeral service will be Saturday, April 23, at 2 p.m. at Middle Creek United Methodist Church in Sevierville with the Rev. Jerry Page officiating. Burial will follow in Middle Creek Cemetery. Those who wish to make a donation in lieu of flowers are asked to contribute to the National Center for Family Literacy. Arrangements by Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)