Dorothy Lee Thomas

Mrs. Dorothy Lee Thomas, 80, of Martin died Thursday, April 25, 2013, at Hillview Community Living Center. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, April 29, 2013, at McCabe United Methodist Church with Rev. Leroy Brent officiating. Interment will follow in Parham Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 11 a.m. on Monday at the church. She was born in rural Greenfield on November 6, 1932, the oldest of four children, to William Gifford "Beaver" Sims and Mary Lee Jackson Sims. She grew up in the farming community of Mount Olive where she attended worship service and completed her studies at the Mount Olive School. She professed her belief in Jesus Christ at an early age and worshipped at Johnson Tabernacle Methodist Church in Greenfield. She married Willie J. Thomas on October 31, 1948 and to this union 10 children were born. She worked as a mother and housewife and in later years at the Weakley County Hospital, The University of Tennessee at Martin, The Ivy House and Hearth Restaurants, and in the bakery of the IGA Supermarket in Martin. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, two sisters Gladys and Josie, a brother Samuel, daughters Alice Faye Tipton and Mary Elizabeth Thomas and two unnamed sons lost in childbirth. She is survived by daughters Doris Jean (William) Brent, Dorothy Marie (Sam) Thomas, Katie Lee (Robert) Thomas, Gail Lumon; sons Willie (Debra) Thomas, Jr. and Eddie Joe (Marsha) Thomas, 28 Grandchildren and 43 Great-Grandchildren. She leaves several "adopted" children who all called her "Momma Dot" and many, many friends. Rawls Funeral Home – Union City 731-885-8110