A native of the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Preston grew up in Walla Walla, Washington, as the middle child of three daughters to father Edwin Blue, a U.S. Navy veteran, and mother Emma Pritchard Blue, who worked at the local Birds Eye food-processing plant. After her father passed from tuberculosis, Ms. Preston helped support the family by working in Washington State’s strawberry fields before later graduating from a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school in Spokane.
After finishing boarding school, Ms. Preston married her high-school sweetheart, Forrest Lee Preston, the son of an Adventist minister, and in 1957 they moved to Cleveland, Tennessee.
With four children, Ms. Preston managed the family’s household while also playing pivotal roles in her husband’s business ventures — including helping to establish Cleveland’s Garden Terrace Convalescent Center in 1970. Within a few years, Garden Terrace led to the creation of Life Care Centers of America Inc., which became one of America’s largest and most successful providers of long-term care. As part of her work in the healthcare field, Ms. Preston went back to school, earned a nursing degree from Cleveland State Community College, and became a registered nurse.
In the early 1990s, Ms. Preston retired to Williamson County, Tennessee. There, she joined the tight-knit Leiper’s Fork community and took up residence in a 1902 Victorian farmhouse near the village gateway. In 1999, the picturesque farmland surrounding Ms. Preston’s historic home became part of the first-ever acreage protected by the newly formed Land Trust for Tennessee, a nonprofit organization that has since conserved more than 137,000 acres across the Volunteer State.
Affectionately known as “Corky” to her family and friends, Ms. Preston brought warmth, kindness, and optimism to every room and conversation. She loved art, history, and music — with her latter tastes ranging from Southern gospel to the Eagles. She passed along her love of nature to kids and grandkids with family outings to her cabin on Lake Ocoee in the Cherokee National Forrest. Those closest to Ms. Preston said she embodied poet Maya Angelou’s belief that “people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Ms. Preston was preceded in death by her sister Velda (Charles) Perry. She is survived by her sister Maida (Thomas) Page as well as her four children: Kathryn “Kathy” (David) Gooch, Farrell (Debbie) Preston, Aubrey (Michele) Preston, and Bryan (Maryam) Preston.
Additionally, Ms. Preston is survived by 10 grandchildren: Mark Gooch, Scott (June) Gooch, Shelby Graves, Aaron (Jaimee) Preston, Abigail Preston, Coker (Jaimme) Preston, Mia Preston, Ryan (Ericca) Preston, Sara Preston, and Taylor (Des) Preston. She is also survived by 21 great-grandchildren: Gavin Cooper, Hagen Cooper, Madison Gooch, Mason Gooch, Meghan Gooch, Michael Gooch, Samantha Gooch, Keaton Graves, Aiden Preston, Arie Preston, Brendan Preston, Dahlia Preston, Farrah Preston, Finn Preston, Jacob Preston, Jasmine Preston, Liam Preston, Lucy Preston, Olive Preston, Parker Preston, and Roman Preston.
Ms. Preston was remembered in a private family service led by the Rev. Betty L. Proctor, pastor, Hillsboro United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Land Trust for Tennessee, P.O. Box 41027, Nashville, TN 37204 or on the web: LandTrustTN.org
