Funeral services for Verla Mae Ingram Yarbrough, age 92, of Ashland will be held Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. at the First Baptist Church in Ashland, AL with Rev. Bruce Willis officiating. Burial will follow at 3:00 P.M. Union Congregational Methodist Cemetery in Boaz, AL. The family will receive friends at the church from 10:00 A.M. until service time.
In the early, quiet hours of December 23, 2022, Mrs. Verla Mae Ingram Yarbrough passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Clay County Nursing Home in Ashland, Alabama.
Verla Mae was the eldest of five children—born in Boaz, Alabama to her parents, Mr. W.A. Ingram and Luna Vestella Kilpatrick Ingram, on October 6, 1930. She grew up in the Double Bridges area of Boaz where her family owned and farmed a plot of land. Verla Mae was smart and athletic—She played girl’s basketball and would often stay late after school to read at the library. In May of 1948, Verla Mae graduated from Boaz High School and married Homer James Yarbrough.
The newlyweds farmed cotton for two years until they relocated to Ashland, Alabama for Homer to begin carpentry work on the new construction of the Clay County Hospital. Verla Mae worked as a sales clerk at the Franklin Five & Dime Store for two years. She was then hired as the bookkeeper for the C.M. Pruett Department Store where she worked for the next seven years. In the summer of 1957, she scored a perfect score on the Federal U.S. Postal Service Clerks Examination and was hired into the Ashland Post Office. In March of 1974, she applied for and was selected to become the first female Postmaster of the Ashland Post Office. She was sworn into federal service in April of 1974 and proudly served the Ashland community until her retirement as postmaster in June of 1991.
Verla Mae was a faithful member for seventy-two years of the Ashland First Baptist Church. She served in the choir for forty years and fifty years in the Women’s Missionary Union helping to raise funds to support Baptist missionaries globally. She also proudly served the community for twenty years as a “Pink Lady” in the Clay County Volunteers Auxiliary. There, she managed the hospital gift shop, whose proceeds were used to purchase non-budgeted patients’ equipment and supplies for the Clay County Hospital. Verla Mae was an avid U.S. coin and stamp collector. She had a love of gospel music and gardening. She took many trips all around the country, most notably to Hawaii, a destination she enjoyed visiting the most.
Verla Mae was preceded in death by her parents, husband of forty-seven years, Homer James Yarbrough, sister, Phyllis Ingram Costner, brother, J.T. Ingram, U.S. Army Sgt. Major Retired (Nina), and brothers-in-law, Harley Costner and Louie P. Engle. She is survived by her only son, Dwight Lee Yarbrough, Lt. Colonel USAF Retired (Rebecca) of Fairfax, VA, grandchildren Kathryn Lee Whitney (Teddy) of Culpepper, VA, Sarah Rebecca Yarbrough of Fairfax, VA, and James Gardner Yarbrough (Sarah) of Walhalla, SC and great-grandson, Thomas Randal Yarbrough of Walhalla, SC. She is also survived by two sisters, Betty Ingram Engle of Douglasville, GA, and Karon Ingram Gilliland (Ron) of Greensboro, GA, brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Peggy Yarbrough of Nashville, TN, and brother-in-law, Gwen McCollum of Lineville, AL.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests anyone who desires to contribute a memorial gift in Verla Mae’s name to consider a donation to the Ashland First Baptist Church Women’s Missionary Union or the American Cancer Society.
