Helen Lackey
(1942 - 2011)

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General Details

Name:	Mrs Helen Lackey
Nick Name:	Mama
Maiden Name:	Mayberry
Gender:	Female
Age:	68 years old
Lived:	Monday, 5 October 1942 - Tuesday, 23 August 2011

My Story

Helen (Mayberry) Lackey was born on October 5,1942 in Jackson County Tennessee...Helen was the youngest of 4 children born to Campbell (Morgan)and Minerva (Nervy) Jane Mayberry...Helen was born in a little house across the street from Fox Elementry School which still stands to this day...Helen being the youngest was always looked after by her brother Jamup(Ernest)and her sisters Dorthy(Johnson} and Louise (Pruett)...Helen's parents struggled to raise their children..Helen told of her best friend Lois Greer wanting her to go to the store with her to buy a coke and Helen knew she did not have any money and so she told Lois that she had to go home early..Helen also told of not having any money for her school pictures and how her Mama sold a chicken (knowing that they needed that chicken for food) and got the pictures...Helen's Mama would make their clothes and she even made Helen a doll (it is in Helen's top dresser drawer to this day) and her Daddy worked for the County until he was unable to due to emphysema...When he got where he could not work..Helen dropped out of school in the eighth grade at the age of 15...cause she was the only child left at home and babysitted the Bowman girls for years.... Helen was babysitting the girls when President Kennedy was shot (they told this at her funeral..they loved to peel the fingernail polish off her nails too)...This is when she first started seeing the signs of her arthritis showing and her pain would soon become so great that she wouldnt be able to hold a pencil or even walk short distances....at the age of 26, Helen's beloved Daddy Morgan passed away...She told of her running to town to get her Daddy a baked tater, he wanted one so bad...she said she was so scared and worried about him that she did not even feel the pain in her legs as she ran...when she arrived back home...it was too late her Daddy had passed away....Morgan was just 58 yrs old....Helen was devestated but she continued to live at home...she took a better job at Washington Manufacturing Company and worked there despite her continued pain with her arthritis...Helen would soon meet the man of her dreams Earl Lackey...thru her Aunt Blanche Heady...Helen had seen Earl before in town driving his convertible...Little did Helen know but her cousin Revene Hix and Earl's cousin Gene Hix were married..and Helen had seen him with his girls at their house....Aunt Blanche had met Earl thru a auction in Nashville and she told him about her niece who was from Jackson County...On July 19,1969...Helen and Earl got married...Helen moved to Nashville...which was a big move for a small town girl as she was...Helen became stepmother to Earl's girls...Jane(Campbell) Wanda(Bowman) Kathy(Bowman) and Karen(Wardell)...the girls ranged in ages from 2yrs to 15yrs old...For Helen to not have any children and take on 4....the love she had for Earl must have been pretty strong and it was....On November 16,1971....Helen and Earl had their first child a girl...name Lisa(Lackey-Reeves)and the following year...they were blessed with a son..Earl(Glenn)...Helen's arthritis took over her knees,legs,fingers,arms, and her whole body...she was disabled with crippling rheumatoid arthritis....which would eventually take her life...
Helen and Earl lived for many years at 906 South 12th Street in Nashville, Tennessee....Helen loved to work in the yard and many times she would take a butcher knife and cut the weeds in her front yard..Earl loved to go to the flea market and he loved to see her face when he would bring her home something"special" On December 14,1997 after returning home from the flea market...Earl had a massive heart attack and passed away before the ambulance arrived....he was just 64 yrs old...this devestated the whole family cause Earl was the backbone that held them together...Helen continued to live in Nasvhille untill October 2005...Helen decided she wanted to live closer to her Mama (Nervy passed away in 2000) and Earl and so she asked her daughter if she wanted to move with her to Jackson County, Tennessee....They packed up 2 houses and moved into a duplex on Wade Subdivision Lane...Helen during this time got worse with her arthritis...she used a cane and she had a dressing stick and helpful things around her house to make it easier on her....But she hurt more and more and soon had to use a wheelchair to go places...Helen had complained of not being able to swallow her food and she had a hard time trying to get her food she did eat to stay down....Lisa called and set up an appt for Helen on August 9.2011....Helen was admitted into Cumberland River Hospital in Celina because she had so many things going on with her, Dr. Horne wanted to keep her....now the first few weeks were okay...Lisa visited her everyday and brought her husband and Helen's twin granddaughters and few times....Helen was getting weaker and weaker....She had acid reflux and her sugar would go up and down...Soon the doctor said they should consider putting her in a hursing home but no way would Lisa hear of it...the steroids Helen was on all those years for her arthritis made her bones real weak...and her lungs was weak too...then they were told she had pneumonia and a heart attack and wouldn't live thru the night....On August 23,2011...Helen Lackey passed away...her daughter was with her when she took her last breath.....Helen is buried beside her beloved husband Earl and behind her cherished parents Morgan and Nervy.....

Latest Tributes

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From: Lis4324396
Song Name: I Sure Miss You
Artist: The Crabb Family

I also deticate this song to my Daddy....Earl R. Lackey....I miss them both s...

From: Lis4324396

I love and miss you so much Mama!!! Life is not the same for me anymore nor will it ever be.....i am so sorry I made ...

Biography

Fathers Name:	Cambell Morgan Mayberry
Mothers Name:	Minerva Jane Dill
Spouse's Name:	Earl Rogers Lackey
Children's Names:	Lisa Lackey Reeves, Earl Glenn Lackey
Siblings Names:	Jamup Mayberry,Dorthy Johnson, Louise Pruett
Country of Birth:	USA
Country of Residence:	USA
City of Residence:	Gainesboro
Occupation:	Other
Marital Status:	Widowed
Religion:	Born Again Christian

Interests

Favourite Sport:	Wrestling
Favourite Team:	Tennessee Titans
Favourite Book:	The Holy Bible
Favourite Movie:	Stone Pillow
Favourite Music Genre:	Country
Favourite Artist:	George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton
Favourite Charity:	The Arthritis Foundation
Other Interests:
Helen loved to watch CNN and Anderson Cooper, she also loved Nancy Grace and Jane Valez-Mitchell..

Passing

Place of Passing:	Cumberland River Hospital Celina Tennessee
Date of Passing:	23 August 2011
Cause of Passing:	heart attack and arthritis
Type of Funeral:	open casket
Place of Burial:	Pharris Cemetery
Plot Number:	beside her beloved husband Earl
Funeral Director:	Brother Jimmy Anderson
Funeral Location:	Anderson UpperCumberland Funeral Home
Funeral Date:	26 August 2011