Nancy Priscilla Chambers Guffey, 96, with children by her side, passed into Glory to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Monday, March 21, 2022.
Priscilla, fondly known as “Priss” by family and friends, was born April 2, 1925, the sixth of eight children, to Bedford Fidelis Chambers and Florence Bell Garrett Chambers.
She was predeceased by her parents and all of her siblings and their spouses: Laura and Howard Carroll, Delilah and Roger Hulsey, Charlie and Florence Chambers, Edward Chambers, Nannie Sue Chambers, Earl and Rose Chambers, Fred and Faye Chambers, and Grady and Dottie Chambers. She was also preceded by former husband, Thomas Frank Guffey Sr.; oldest child, Virginia Lee Guffey Adams; son-in-law, Alvin (Cider) Adams, son-in-law, F. David Slagle; twin great-grandsons, Andrew and William Adams; in-laws, Wade H. Guffey and Ruth Inez Guffey; brother-in-law, the Rev. Hal Guffey, and brother-in-law, Howard Guffey.
Priscilla met Frank Guffey when she was a senior attending Murphy High School. Her oldest sister, Laura, helped Priss get a waitress position at the restaurant in the Trailways Bus Station in Murphy. On her first day, Frank came into the restaurant and, upon seeing her, asked her sister, Laura, who she was and then immediately said to Laura, “I am going to marry her someday.” And marry her he did, on Jan. 26, 1944, at the courthouse in Blairsville, Ga.
After being married for three years and Frank serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Priscilla and Frank had five children in seven years. The oldest, Virginia Lee Guffey Adams, formerly of Andrews, is the only one deceased. The remaining four children in birth order and with spouses are still living, they are the following: Patricia Ann Guffey Slagle of Hayesville, Thomas Frank Guffey Jr. and wife Brit of Cumming, Ga., Willie Mae (Tutti) Guffey Tatham and husband Richard F. Tatham Sr. of Sylva, and Stephenson Gary Guffey and wife Susan Postell Guffey of Knoxville, Tenn. God blessed Priss with 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Priscilla also has numerous nieces, nephews and cousins that she cherished dearly. Priscilla is also survived by brother-in-law, Gene Guffey and wife Faye of Peachtree; sister-in-law, Ruth Guffey Holt of Birmingham, Ala., and sister-in-law, Betsy Ross Guffey of Easley, S.C.
Priscilla was a graduate of Murphy High School’s Class of 1944 where she played varsity basketball for all four years of high school. She loved to tell stories of her basketball days, including one when a player was so upset during a high school game that the player threw the only basketball out the window abruptly ending the game. Still shooting hoops with her children and grandchildren well into her 60s, she told them her father believed she wore the warmup long pants to play on the team or she would not have gotten to play and about the exciting train ride the team took with her coach to Cullowhee for a game.
A born storyteller, Priss delighted children, grandchildren, and friends of various tales about her childhood, school and family events, including many involving working from dawn to dusk in fields of long rows of corn alongside her siblings for her father who was a sharecropper. As young children, she often gathered her little ones at night to read from the Bible and sing hymns, old ballads passed down to her, and popular songs before saying prayers and dozing off.
Besides being a mother and a wife, Priscilla worked as a waitress at Tracy’s Restaurant and the Miami Restaurant in Murphy, then as a factory worker at Berkshire International in Andrews, Owenby Manufacturing Company in Andrews and Clifton Precision in Peachtree. In 1976, she became a floral designer at the Andrews Florist and Gift Shoppe, where she worked until she retired after more than 30 years. It was during this time at the florist that Priss became a fixture of the community where so many entered the Gift Shoppe’s doors as much to visit her as they did with the purpose of making a purchase. Although already a blood kin to many, she became like family to all in the community who teased, joked, laughed and cried alongside her as she delighted and assisted them in expressing their feelings through the beauty of flowers.
Outside of work, Priscilla loved square dancing, gardening, canning fruits and vegetables, and playing cards with family and friends. Her family has many memories of Priscilla playing Canasta, Rook, Setback and Wahoo at most family gatherings and on their front porch until late during summer evenings. Also, they have fond memories of her taking car loads of the neighborhood children to the drive-in-theater in Andrews on many summer nights.
When the children were small, Priscilla also enjoyed sewing and making beautiful dresses for her daughters to wear for Easter. Once, she made them dresses to wear in a fashion show that was held around the Andrews Airport swimming pool as a part of the Fourth of July celebration.
Priss lived a life of hard work, loved her God, family, friends and community, and possessed a unique capacity to encourage all who met her to smile, laugh and enjoy life a bit more having been in her presence. She simply made you feel good, and we all loved her for it.
Priscilla was a member of Andrews First Baptist Church, where she enjoyed attending Sunday School and Sunday morning and evening services for many years. Thus, the visitation for her family and friends was held there from 6-9 p.m. Saturday, March 26. Her “Celebration of Life” service was held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 27, at Andrews First Baptist Church, with the Rev. Dr. Calvin BoBo officiating. Priscilla’s grandsons served as pallbearers: Timothy Adams, Richie Tatham, Anthony Adams, Thomas Tatham, Bobby Murr, Wesley Slagle, Kenny Adams, Neil Hoy, Chris Miller and Bill Gilroy (including by marriage). Nephews Allen Chambers, Buck Chambers, Gary Chambers, Mike Chambers, Richard Chambers, Sheridan Chambers, Grady Earl Chambers and James Carroll, and great-grandsons Trey Tatham, Trent Tatham, Aiden Gilroy, Hunter Gilroy, Tucker Slagle, Henry Slagle, Mox Hoy, T.J. Massey, Matthew Miller, Sean Miller, Justin Adams, and Carson Adams were honorary pallbearers.
The family of Priscilla express our great gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation to Murphy Care and Rehabilitation Center administration and staff, to the members of Andrews First Baptist Church Care Ministry, and to Dr. Thomas Clayton, her family physician and friend for over 40 years.
The family would like to suggest that anyone wanting to make a donation in Priscilla’s memory to donate to the Care Team Ministry of Andrews First Baptist Church.
Graveside rites and burial were in the Greenlawn Cemetery at Peachtree immediately following her “Celebration of Life” service on Sunday, March 27.
You may send tributes to the Guffey family at www.townson-rose.com.
Townson-Rose Funeral Home was in charge of all arrangements.