Carmen Estelle Montgomery of Minor Hill passed away on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at her residence. She was born in Decatur, AL on July 25, 1920 and was 99 years old.
Carmen graduated U.T. Memphis School of Nursing as an RN in 1944. She was a surgical nurse during WWII and served all across Europe. She served in the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge with General George Patton Jr.’s third army. When the war ended, she still continued to serve because there were so many patients remaining in hospitals. She stayed another year working on Transport train #83 that carried the patients to seaports in France who were boarded onto ships and brought to the US.
Carmen went back to school and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a Physical Therapist. She served the National Polio Foundation and the March of Dimes. She served as a consultant for the midwestern states. In 1950 she began working in Alaska as the only physical therapist in the territory until 1956. During this time she was sent to Texas on Polio assignment, where she met her future husband, Kenneth Montgomery. They married in 1952, as the first couple to be wed in the new Minor Hill First Baptist Church. They returned to Alaska until 1956. The couple made their home in Minor Hill, TN.
She worked for North Alabama Crippled Children and retired from ECM Hospital. She returned to working and retired from Northwest Alabama Rehab Center in Muscle Shoals, AL at the age of 90. She was a charter member of Minor Hill Civitan Club, Cerebral Palsy Board of Directors of Shoals area, on the executive Board of Directors of the Giles County Child Development Center, Pulaski, TN. She always said, “I’m so delighted to have lived this long and God blessed me with family and friends.” She enjoyed friendship from all the places she had been and she loved all the Minor Hill family.
Special thanks to Philip and Sheila McClure and Hospice Healthcare in the care of Carmen.
A private family graveside service was held Monday, March 30th at 11:00 am at Giles Memory Gardens with burial that followed. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to, Minor Hill First Baptist Church, 13163 Minor Hill Hwy, Minor Hill, TN 38473, Giles County Child Development Center, 818 E. Madison St, Pulaski, TN 38478, or to United Cerebral Palsy, 507 N. Hook St., Tuscumbia, AL 35674.
She was preceded in death by her, parents, Fate and Callie Britton; husband, Kenneth Montgomery; son, Bruce Montgomery and granddaughter, Christina Carmen Gill.
She is survived by her, daughter, Betty Gill; grandson, Richard (Julie) Bohon; nephews, Dan (Dannie) Walther and Jim Walther; niece, Maxine Hune and special friend, J.W. Alsup.
Bennett-May & Pierce Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of all arrangements for Carmen Estelle Montgomery.
