Gaye Marie Whitehead

Born January 20, 1923 in Sandstone, Summers County, West Virginia, she was the daughter of the late James Plummer Cooper and Ina Faye Ballengee Chandler.

Gaye was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, WV and lived most of her life in the Beckley area. She retired from the UMWA Heath and Retirement Funds, Beckley with 25 years service. She was a member of the Memorial Baptist Church of Beckley, General Andrew Lewis Chapter of NSDAR of Lewisburg, Greenbrier, Fayette and Raleigh Counties WV Genealogical Societies and several other genealogical and historical societies.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband, Ivan Douglas Whitehead on February 5, 1973; stepfather, Walter Merritt Chandler, Sr.; stepmother, Jessie F. Fink Smith Chandler; sisters-in-laws, Helen Jean Cooper, Billie M. Cales Cooper and Mary Moore Chandler; brothers, Rev. Walter Merritt Chandler, Jr., William Amos Chandler, James Wilson Cooper, Sr., and Kenneth Jack Cooper.

Those left to cherish Gaye’s memory are daughters, Beverly Carol Whitehead of Daniels and Brenda Joyce Whitehead Moore and husband Norman Davis Moore of Daniels; brother, Gerald Keith Chandler and wife Mary Jo of Crawley, WV; sisters-in-law, Nancy Grigsby Chandler Dobbs and husband Robert of Louisville, KY, Patricia Cheek of Crab Orchard and Joyce Cooper of Ballengee, WV; stepbrother, Robert F. Smith, Jr. and wife Janice of Waynesboro, VA; stepsister, Drema Smith Mitchell of Beckley; grandsons, Douglas Wesley Moore and wife Annette Schutte Moore of Helena, MT and Derek Ashley Moore and wife Mary Maedke Moore of Thibodaux, LA; great-grandchildren, Tauni Rai Moore, Briar Davis Moore and Bailey Sage Marie Moore of Helena, MT and Katherine Ashley Moore, William Davis Moore and Caleb Cooper Moore of Thibodaux, LA and a host of nieces and nephews.

Friends may gather with the family at Blue Ridge Funeral Home, Monday, December 28, 2015 from 1-2 pm. A graveside service will be held Monday, December 28, 2015 at 2pm at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens with Rev. Michael McQuillen officiating. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations of sympathy be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or Hospice of Southern West Virginia.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Angela Pendleton, faithful caregiver Debbie, and to Hospice of Southern West Virginia.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blueridgefuneralhome.com.

Blue Ridge Funeral Home, 5251 Robert C. Byrd Drive, Beckley, has the honor of serving the Whitehead family.