Carolyn Gilchrist (5-30-12) service 6-2-12

Carolyn Nell White Gilchrist passed away Wednesday, May 30, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, following an extended hospital stay.

Carolyn attended Saltillo High School in Hardin County where she was the captain of the basketball team and graduated in 1950. She married Orville Lee Gilchrist on August 12, 1950. Carolyn and Orville enjoyed a wonderful time during his 30 year career in the U.S. Navy, traveling the world and living in exotic places. Each tour would bring new friends into their lives and sometimes reunite them with old friends. After Orville’s retirement from the Navy in 1979, they returned to West Tennessee, making their home first in Adamsville, then moving to the banks of the Tennessee River in Crump.

Carolyn was the consummate homemaker, and her skill was surpassed only by her love and devotion to her children and grandchildren. She loved to cook and garden, and delighted in shopping for her children and grandchildren. She was an avid reader with a wide range of knowledge and a wry sense of humor. She will be greatly missed for her kindness, her generosity, and love for her family and church. She was a member of Mt. Sharon Presbyterian Church in the Gilchrist community.

She is survived by her loving husband of 62 years, Orville, and her three children, Dianna Lea Gilchrist, Lisa Mischke (Phil), and Craig Gilchrist (Terry). Carolyn was also blessed with seven loving grandchildren; Christopher, Katie, Virginia, and John Gilchrist, and Elizabeth, Will, and Anne Mischke. She also leaves an aunt, Marguerite Cash, and several cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Grace White, and her brother Robert Keaton White.

Services were held on Saturday, June 2, at 1 p.m., at Mount Sharon Presbyterian Church in Adamsville. Burial followed in the Gilchrist Cemetery at Adamsville.