Frankie Mae (Clemmons) Pounders

Frankie Mae Clemmons Pounders, 86, passed away peacefully Monday, September 7, 2020 at home, surrounded by her loving family. Visitation will be Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Greenview Funeral Home. The funeral service will follow at 1:00 p.m. in the funeral home chapel, officiated by Stan Dean, with Bill Batson and Will Batson speaking. Pallbearers will be son-in-law Bill Batson, grandsons, Will Batson, Rob Batson, and John Batson, nephews Mitch Clemmons and Josh Davis. Interment will follow at Tri-Cities Memorial Gardens.

She was born in St. Joseph, Tennessee on December 24, 1933 to Robert Clemmons and Lottie Mae McGee Clemmons. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of almost 59 years, James Darrell Pounders; her parents; her sisters, Juanita Cox and Leola Lester; and her brother, Jimmy Clemmons. She is survived by a daughter, Sharon Laraine Batson, and husband, William Bailey Batson, III; three grandsons, William James Batson, Robert Bailey Batson, and John Andrew Batson, and numerous family members, nieces and nephews.

She attended St. Joseph Elementary and then Rogers Elementary and High School, graduating as Valedictorian of the first graduating class at Rogers. She worked as a bookkeeper and secretary to Dr. Jack Droke and then to Dick Biddle at WOWL radio for several years. She met her future husband, Jim, after his service in the Air Force and followed him to Columbia, Tennessee and then to Centerville, Tennessee where he was first a radio announcer and then station manager. Many times, she worked alongside him, helping to ensure a smooth broadcast operation. They moved back to Florence, where they began a family together. She eventually went back to work for the Lauderdale County Board of Education, first in bookkeeping at the Central Office and then serving children for many years as a substitute teacher and teacher’s aide.

As first the daughter and then the wife of a minister, she devoted her life to serving God and her family. After services, her Sundays were spent visiting church members, both at home and in the hospital. Her hands prepared many meals through the decades for those who were sick or in grief. With her husband, she participated in mission campaigns to the islands of Nevis, Montserrat, and Jamaica, and taught World Bible School classes. Throughout the years in her community, she taught Bible school at church and in the jail ministry. She lived her Christian faith with a servant’s heart. She was a member of Killen Church of Christ. “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies...Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”  Proverbs 31:10, 28

Her family would like to thank all of her caregivers through these last few months: all the Kindred Home Health nurses, especially Amy and Connie; Southern Care New Beacon Hospice, especially Laura, LaMonica, and Chassidy, and her special caregiver, Ms. Jerry Laughlin.

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