Cortez Garrett Temple, age 97, of Decatur passed away on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at her residence. Visitation will be Saturday, August 9, 2014 from 1 to 2:45 p.m. at Roselawn Funeral Home. A graveside service will follow at 3 p.m. in Roselawn Cemetery with Doug Fields officiating.
Mrs. Temple was born April 6, 1917 in Golden, Oklahoma. She was the second of five children of Edward Garrett a farmer, and Mary Charlotte Gilliam Garrett. She attended Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Southeastern Teacher’s College in Durant, Oklahoma. She held a lifetime teaching certificate in elementary education from the State of Oklahoma, and taught in Oklahoma public schools before her marriage in 1946 to J. Lawrence Temple of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. With her husband and daughter, Mrs. Temple moved from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1955 and to Decatur in 1959. She was a fulltime homemaker until her husband’s death in 1971, and later a childcare worker for several church nurseries in Decatur. Mrs. Temple enjoyed fishing, hiking, bird watching, and gardening.
She is survived by one daughter, Mary Kay Temple of Decatur. Pallbearers will be friends of the family. Honorary pallbearers will be Alan Swafford, O’Neal Proctor, Buddy Bingham, Willard Peppers, Billy Roy King and Gene McKenzie.
In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Temple requested that memorial gifts be made to Hospice of The Valley.
240 Johnson Street SE or P.O. Box 2745 Decatur, Alabama 35602, Phone 256-350-5585.
