Emily Fortune Talley

Shortly after high school, in 1955, Emily moved to Columbus, Ohio. Her plan was to visit her aunt, but she decided to stay and make Columbus her home. She met and married Oather J. Talley, and gave birth to four children to whom she was an amazing and devoted mother. Emily valued education and passed this same value on to her children.

Emily held positions in various governmental organizations. She worked for Franklin County, a number of departments for the State of Ohio, and the Defense Construction Supply Center, a part of the Defense Logistics Agency, from which she retired in 1993 after 26 years of service.

Emily loved the Lord and made sure her children did too. She was a long time member of Trinity Baptist Church attending since 1955. She was a member of the Gospel Choir, the Note Singers, and Senior Choir #2, and she was a Sunday school teacher. She enjoyed attending the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, acting in productions like the Black Nativity, was a member of the Dennis Freeman Choir, and often participated in city-wide choirs.

Emily departed this life early Thursday morning, April 4, 2019. Emily was preceded in death by her parents; her twin sister, Emma Lee Fortune; her brother, Henry P. Davidson; her grandson, Cameron T. Woods; and her former husband, Oather J. Talley.

Left to cherish Emily’s memory are her brother, Charles L. (Dee) Sanders, her children: Cheryl R. (Robert) Talley-Sharp, Michele (Brian) Livingston, Oather J. Talley II, and Yolanda Talley; her two grandchildren, Diamond and Sterling Sharp; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, relatives and special friends.