June Lessman

Funeral services for Wilma June Lessman, 65, of Cookeville, will be held Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 11AM at the Cookeville chapel of Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Smith Chapel Cemetery. The family will receive friends Friday from 5PM to 8PM at the Cookeville Chapel of Hooper- Huddleston and Horner and Saturday from 10 AM until service time at the funeral home. Mrs. Lessman went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at the Life Care Center of Sparta. Her husband was at her side when the Lord took her hand. She was born August 14, 1948 in Oneida, TN to the late Herbert Allen and Nellie May Taylor Smith. Mrs. Lessman was a member of Bangham Heights Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School, served in the nursery and on the church bus, served in the sign ministry, and sang in the choir. She graduated from Oneida High School as Salutatorian of the Class of 1966. She graduated from Tennessee Tech with a Bachelors Degree in Education and a Masters Degree in Special Education. She taught developmentally challenged children at a diagnostic clinic while living in Rolla, Missouri. She taught first grade locally for a number of years at Northeast Elementary and at Park View Elementary. In 1985, she returned to Tech to study math and computer science and subsequently taught Math classes at Cookeville High School and in the Developmental Studies Program at Tech. In 1981, she was chosen as the Jaycees Outstanding Young Educator for the State of Tennessee. She did her best to give all of her students a good start. Mrs. Lessman served for a number of years as a member of the Reach for a Cure breast cancer group of the local American Cancer Society. She was a member of the CRMC Auxiliary for more than a decade and served terms as historian and on the nurse scholarship committee. Mrs. Lessman was an avid seamstress and gardener. She was known as the "throw lady" having made and given many fleece throws and baby blankets to her friends and to charity. She was a loving, devoted wife, mother aunt and friend. She will be missed dearly by her family at her church, ad in the community. Her family includes her husband of 45 years, Roger Ellis Lessman of Cookeville; a son, Edward (Ted) Allen Lessman of Nashville; three sisters, Linda Sue and Len St. John of Lancaster, CA; Violet and Bill Hamilton of Oneida; and Yvonne and Jeff Moore of Greeneville, TN; two brothers, Hobart Allen Smith of Bedford, TX; and Herbert Alvin Smith and Joanie of Spring City; and uncle, James Harold Smith of Ocala, Fl; a sister-in-law, Delores Lessman of Independence, KS; and a brother-in-law, Ray Lessman and Gail of Nashville; also numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Sheila Ann Smith and a brother-in-law, Gerald Eugene Lessman. Pallbearers will be Greg Bostien, Jeff , and Howard Turner along with nephews Trace Hamilton, John Hamilton, and Jason Ladd. Honorary pallbearers will be the men and ladies of the Senior Sunday School Class at Bangham Heights Baptist Church along with her special friend Tracey Nunley. Brother Scott Griner will officiate the service with special singing by Linda Crider and Arlene Mason. Her family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Alzheimer's Association at www. alz.org , or www.alztennessee.org , or to the American Canver Society at www.cancer,org, or to Bangham Heights Baptist Church, 5961 Hilham Rd., Cookeville, TN 38501.