Mary Evelyn Barger, 85, of Cleveland, TN, passed away Monday, January 6, 2014 in a Chattanooga hospice facility.
She grew up attending South Cleveland Church of God and later attended First United Methodist Church. She loved to can vegetables out of the garden. In her younger days she was an avid bowler. She was employed at Grabers clothing store and was a relator and had worked for Cherokee Land Company, Renner Realty and Phillips Realty. She was a homemaker, loving wife, mother, grandmother and aunt.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, R.D. Lee; parents, Elmer Morgan and Carrie Wilcox Morgan; and siblings, Leroy Morgan, Clyde Morgan, Woodrow Morgan, Helen Ogle, Louise Patterson and Lillian Trickel.
She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Jim Barger of Cleveland; son, Steve Barger and daughter-in-law, Tonya Thompson-Barger of Cleveland; son, David Lee of Birmingham, AL; grandchildren, Taylor and Alexia Thompson of Cleveland; two brothers-in-law, Clifford Barger and his wife Patsy and Lynn Gobble, all of Cleveland; and three sisters-in-law, Nell Barger of Chattanooga, Judy Barger of Easley, SC and Ruby Morgan of Clearwater, FL.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, January 10, at First United Methodist Church in Cleveland with the Reverend Drew Henry and Pastor Tim Bracken officiating. Interment will follow in Hilcrest Memorial Gardens with Mike Patterson, Tim Patterson, Kirk Gobble, Brian Copeland, Jared Gaston and Taylor Thompson serving as pallbearers. Terry Barger, Brian Patterson and George Patterson will serve as honorary pallbearers.
The family will receive friends from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, January 9, at Grissom Funeral Home, who has charge of the arrangements, and the body will lie in state one hour at the church prior to the service.
The family requests that memorials be made to the American Cancer Society or to Hospice of Chattanooga.