COLUMBIA - Jean Raley Massey passed away on March 18, 2019. She was born Bertha Jean Raley on July 9, 1928 in Pickens, South Carolina to Lee A. Raley and Bertha Marshall Raley. She was the youngest of five children, three sisters and a brother who predeceased her. She grew up on the family farm with her mother, siblings and grandmother until she moved to Williamsburg, Virginia where she graduated from Matthew Whaley High School. It was there she met a handsome young army medical officer, Charles Webster Massey. After a very brief courtship he was stationed in San Francisco. He proposed by phone and she took the train across the country to marry him on September 6, 1947. Then they took a converted cattle boat to Germany where they resided in the U.S Occupation Zone.
They returned to settle in Richmond, Virginia. Jean was a devoted wife, mother, and homemaker in the truest since of the word. The family moved to the farm “Buckeye” in Hanover County in 1962 where they lived for 25 years before moving into Richmond where they lived until joining their daughter in Columbia, South Carolina in 2015. In Richmond she was a past congregant of Reveille Methodist Church, of Fair Haven Methodist Church, and more recently of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. In Columbia she was congregant of Shandon Methodist Church. She and Chuck traveled the world by plane, boat, and train, and she had a rich and full life.
Jean is survived by her beloved husband of 71 years, her daughters Sandra Massey Hall of Columbia and her husband John and Karen Massey of Yarmouth, Maine and her husband Jeff Thaler, and by her granddaughter Virginia Hall Puhlasky and her husband Jason and their children Mary Wallace and Sara Marshall, her grandsons Webster Hall, Greg Thaler, Kai Thaler, and her granddaughter Johanna Massey Lachine and her husband Justin and their children, Mikel and Nathan. She was predeceased by her son Kent Raley Massey. She is also survived by 6 nieces and a nephew and their families. Family was the center of her life.
A service to celebrate her life will be held Saturday, March 30 at 11 a.m. at Shandon United Methodist Church. The burial will be private at Marshall Church Cemetery on Old Camden Rd in Lee County. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
In lieu of flowers please send contributions to Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1627 Monument Ave, Richmond, VA 23220; or Shandon United Methodist Church, 3407 Devine St, Columbia, SC 29205.
Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.
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