Treva Christene Long

Mom was very proud to acknowledge she had been a Christian since she was 12. Her life was centered around her service to the Lord while being a devoted wife to Dad—Carl Lee Long—and a great Mom to us. Many times, she said that all she “ever wanted to be is a good wife and a good mother.” Mom was a lifelong resident of East Ridge, Tennessee and the last original surviving member of the Greenslake Road church of Christ.

Later in life, after Dad passed, we gifted Mom an iPad which opened a new world for her. She became very proficient—and very proud—of answering over a thousand Bible quiz questions in the last few years. To say Mom was competitive would be an understatement! She always played to win! We’ll miss our daily word game competitions. College football and baseball were her go-to sports and she was beginning to like hockey and basketball. People were amazed that a ninety-something-year-old woman could talk football and baseball with the best of them.

Her sense of humor will be greatly missed. She could be both funny and silly. Everyone felt at ease with Mom. Her superpower was listening and encouraging without judgement and offering guidance if asked. A role model to some a loyal friend to others—many friendships spanned decades.

We kids loved our Mom and her devotion to Dad and to making sure we were on the right path in our lives. With constant encouragement, and a little chastising along the way, she raised us to be strong and independent, but with humility. She loved crafting poems and sharing them with friends and family. The words and rhymes came to her with great ease in the oddest of times and situations. You could say she was the poet laureate of our family. On many occasions she called with a poem she had written when she couldn’t sleep the night before. Her writing gave her a sense of pride and purpose and it became an integral part of our memories. Here is a poem dated 1956:

A Mother’s Prayer

Dear Lord in Heaven as I pray tonight

Help me, a mother, to do what is right

As problems arise through these years

Help me to solve them through laughter and tears

And as my children grow strong and bright

Help me to keep their souls pure white

Give me the wisdom, dear Lord, it will take

To help them overcome any bad break

And as they journey this life through

Show them, dear Lord, what you would have them do.

Described by many in her church family, and others who met her, as a person who is “always smiling.” If you visited mom, she gently urged you—with a big smile—to “get a snack” from her overflowing basket on the kitchen table. “Take as much as you like.”

Mom was born to the late James Loy Rothwell and Gladys Pearl Rothwell in Pikeville, Tennessee November 8, 1930. She married Dad in 1947 and were inseparable for 65 years raising three children. In addition to her parents and Dad, she was preceded in death by her firstborn Carl Duaine Long, her sisters Willene Dawkins, Lavada Sizemore and Patsy Dobbs and her step-granddaughter Mistie Clements.

She leaves behind her brother Ronnie (Doris) Rothwell of Red Bank, Tennessee, son Nick (Jeri) Long of Columbia Tennessee, daughter Kim (Tim) Samples of Madison, Tennessee, grandsons Jonathon (Katie) Long of Lebanon, Tennessee, Zack (Shaun) Samples of Nashville, Tennessee, Troy Rains of Parsons, Tennessee, granddaughters Dr. Jessica (Barry) Gibbs of Brentwood, Tennessee, Angie Long of Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, Stefanie Long of Rossville, Georgia, Melanie (Don) Cummings of Daytona, Florida, Natalie (Jeremy) Moore of Ringgold, Georgia along with 17 great-grandchildren, 13 great-great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Treva’s Life will be held at the Greens Lake Road Church of Christ on Thursday March 6 at 12:30 PM. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday March 5, 2025 from 5-8pm. She will be laid to rest alongside her beloved husband, Carl in the Chattanooga National Cemetery following the service at 2pm.

Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com

Chattanooga Funeral Home East Chapel, 404 S. Moore Rd., East Ridge, TN., has been entrusted with Treva’s arrangements.