Myra Faye Dickey

Myra Faye Ellison Dickey was born May 2, 1920, in Purvis, Mississippi, to Jesse Turner and Bama Odessa Ellison. She went to be with her Savior peacefully in her sleep on May 16, 2017. She graduated from Purvis Special Consolidated School in 1939. In 1940 she met her future husband, Robert L. Dickey, at her church. She and her sisters were participating in a church service; Myra was playing her accordion. Robert, being musical himself, thought “I sure would like to meet this young lady”. They were married on October 19, 1941. After his service in the U. S. Navy during World War II, they moved to Memphis in 1946. Myra was a homemaker and loving mother to their five children. When Robert decided to form a bluegrass band, he helped her learn to play the upright bass fiddle, which was taller than she was! She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, her parents, and her siblings: Lowell Ellison, Mildred Ellison Jones, Leitha Ellison Kerley, and Geneva Ellison Townsend. She is survived by children: Cathy Dickey of Memphis, Milton Dickey (Kathy) of Collierville, Janet Dickey Haas (John) of Memphis, Jeanine Dickey Smith (Wallace) of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Louella Dickey Gravatt of Horn Lake, MS. Grandchildren: Kimberly Sartain (Jason) of Bartlett, Elizabeth Burke (Jacob) of Raleigh, NC, Joseph Haas of Memphis, Joshua Smith (Whiley) of Marietta, GA, Alicia Gaston (John), Rachel Conner (Drew) of Marion, AR, Elaine Browning (Jacob) of Yokosuka, Japan, Jennifer Haas of Sapporo, Japan, and Jeff Fowler of Norris, TN. Great grandchildren: Cade Sartain, Anneliese Conner, Ashlyn Sartain, Stone Gaston, Helen Burke, and Roland Conner. She is also survived by her brother, Jesse Turner Ellison, Jr. (Betty) of Jackson, CA, and many nieces and nephews. Myra was a faithful member of First Baptist Church for 70 years, and was saddened when she became physically unable to attend services. She had been a member of the LLL senior group and earlier in the LLL choir. She also was a member of a sewing group at the church who made items for Baptist Hospital patients --- her specialty was adorable wooly lambs for children in the hospital. Visitation will be held at 2 P.M. in the Fellowship Hall of First Baptist Church, with service at 3 P.M., in the Chapel, 200 E. Parkway North, on Saturday, May 20, 2017. Interment will be at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Brookhaven, MS. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to First Baptist Church or United Way of the Mid-South.