Alice was born on October 22, 1921 in Wadley, Jefferson County, Georgia, the daughter of Frank Cleveland Jackson and Ruth Amelia Jackson. She attended Berry College in Rome, Georgia from 1938-1943, where she worked in the weaving room to pay her tuition and board. After college, she taught high school home economics in Georgia and North Carolina. In 1946, she married Jasper Earl Pendley of Hampton, Georgia. They were married for 69 years until his death in 2015. After teaching, Alice worked as a door-to door salesperson and then as a clerk in the United States Post Office in Hampton, becoming Postmaster in 1971 until her retirement from the Post Office in 1986. She traveled extensively throughout the United States, attending the annual Postmaster convention every August. She also traveled throughout Europe and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with her son, Charles, in 1967. After retiring as Postmaster, she took government classes at Clayton State College and ran for and was elected to the Hampton City Council, where she served as a city council member until 2001, serving four terms and as mayor pro-tem.
Throughout her life, Alice participated in many civic and charitable organizations and activities in Hampton and Henry County, including the Henry County Chamber of Commerce, the Henry County Scholarship Fund, the United Way charity campaign, Meals on Wheels, Haven House, and the Henry County Clean and Beautiful Committee. In 1991, she was the recipient of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce “Citizen of the Year” award. She was also an avid reader and lover of history, often stopping the car to get out and read any historical markers she passed along the road.
Alice was pre-deceased by her parents, her husband, Jasper Earl Pendley, and her brother William (Buster) Franklin Jackson. She is survived by her sisters, Sara Kearns of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Betsy Seving of Vandalia, Ohio, and a brother Clark Rheney Jackson of Fort Myers, Florida; her two children: a son, Charles Jackson Pendley, of Hampton, Georgia, and a daughter, Sarah Earlene Pendley of Baltimore Maryland; three grandchildren: Kimberly Anne Ferry (Kevin) of Medfield, Massachusetts, Colin Wolf Weiner (Tracy) of Manhattan Beach, California and Molly Elise Weiner of New York City; two great-granddaughters: Miller Catherine Ferry and Riley Alice Ferry of Medfield, Massachusetts.
The family is especially grateful for the kind and generous assistance, support, friendship, daily support, caregiving, and concern in recent years of Fran and Peter Laughren, the staff of Benton Village of Stockbridge, and the staff of Bridgeway Hospice, especially Rosalyn Johnson and Patricia Johnson.
A memorial service and celebration of Alice’s life will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at the Berea Christian Church, 37 Woolsey Road, Hampton, Georgia.
In lieu of flowers, for those who wish to do so, memorial contributions may be made to Berea Christian Church, 37 Woolsey Road, Hampton, Georgia, 30228, and please make a notation that your donation is in memory of Alice Pendley.
