Mary Sue Braly Gamble, age 88, of Five Points, Tennessee passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on April 28, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, due to advanced cardiac disease. Sue was born in Anderson, Alabama, near the community of Grassy on January 22, 1934. She married Clyde in 1951, and the Gamble’s century farm was their home.
Sue is survived by her husband of 70 years, James Clyde Gamble; her daughter, Mary Susan Gamble Crowell, and son-in-law, Larry, of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee; her grandchildren, Samuel Adam Crowell of Nashville and Mary Katherine Crowell of Washington, D.C.; her brother and childhood best friend, Morris Braly, and sister-in-law, Yvonne, of Lexington, Alabama; her sister-in-law, Ruth Gamble Goff of Lawrenceburg; and several nieces and nephews.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents, Solon Neal Braly and Pauline Crawford Braly, and her brothers and sisters, Edwin Braly, Alvin Braly, Helen Braly Blackshear, Hazel Braly Kraus, Imogene Braly Coffey, Joseph Neal Braly, James Paul Braly, and Lynn Braly.
Sue was actively engaged with community life in Five Points. She was a member of Lexington Church of Christ, past president of the South Lawrence Community Center, a volunteer for the Lawrence County 4-H clubs, a graduate of Lexington High School in Alabama, and a recipient of the Babe Ruth Foundation Sportsmanship Award.
Sue will be remembered for her giggling, her mischief, and her sincere and exuberant laughter with her family and friends. She could fuel debilitating laughs about everything from a simple pothole to an old privy. She had mastered the appropriate uses of the words “flitter” and “shoot” and had become known by caregivers as “Mama” and “Sue-bydoo”. She had a lifelong love affair with pursuing impractical and uncomfortable antique settees and finding ideal spots for old clocks. The family coined a phrase to describe the many directives she often gave as “Sue-gestions”. She made the perfect grape jelly, baked the best ever biscuits and put up the most delicious creamed corn. She cherished her brothers and sisters. She was the salt of the earth and lived a simple life that God sprinkled with much joy. She will be remembered for her tender heart for those in need, her pure delight in her grandchildren, and her solitude as she contemplated the quiet movement of deer in the back fields.
There will be visitation with the family Monday evening, May 2, 2022, 5-7 p.m. and Tuesday afternoon, May 3, 12-1 p.m. followed by a memorial service beginning at 1 p.m. at the Loretto Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at the Lawrence County Memorial Gardens.
The family is grateful for her trusted nephew Dwight and her dear caregivers Jackie and Holly for helping her and Clyde on the farm, and for the caregivers at Dominion Senior Living in Chattanooga during her challenging last months. They are grateful to the church family at Lexington Church of Christ for their unending love, prayers and encouragement.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations in honor of Sue be made to Lexington Church of Christ benefiting the children’s and outreach ministries, P.O. Box 40, Lexington, AL 35648, or to The Taraloka Foundation supporting young girls, 705 Northern Avenue, Signal Mountain, TN 37377.
