Lessie Peeler McCay, 93, of Lakesite, died Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003, in a local hospital.
A native of Athens, Ga. she had been a resident of Chattanooga and a member of First-Centenary United Methodist Church for more than 50 years. As Lessie Belle Peeler she graduated from Athens High School, and the University of Georgia with concentrations in Home Economics and Ceramics. She taught Home Economics for four years at Madison County and Clarke County High Schools. She was a graduate student at Virginia Tech in Home Economics and was enrolled in advanced study classes in ceramics at Arrowment School in Gatlinburg. Additional pottery studies were at Ohio State University and Kansas State University at Emporia.
At the Chattanooga YWCA she taught the Pottery course for eight years, showing many new friends the techniques of shaping, tooling, decorating, glazing and firing pottery. She entered many juried shows, including the Mississippi River in Memphis, the Piedmont Craftsmen in Winston-Salem, N.C. where she won the "Purchase Award" of Wachovia Bank. She was an active participant in Fannie Mennen's "Plum Nelly" Lookout Mountain shows for seventeen years. She shared art shows with Professor Gail Hammond at the UTC George Cress Gallery and with Vivian Kell Hixson of Dunlap, Tenn. at Julies Gallery in Hixson. For three years she was invited to demonstrate "pottery throwing" at the Pioneer Skills show at Falls Mill near Belvedere, Tenn.
She was a charter member of Intown Gallery of Chattanooga and a member of the Tennessee Artists Association and of the Foothills Guild of Oak Ridge. As a member of Piedmont Craftsmen of Winston-Salem she was invited to share that group's show in Madison Square Garden. She served a two-year term on the Tennessee Arts Commission. Helen Bullard, author of Crafts and Craftsmen of the Tennessee Mountains stated "Her pots and casseroles and other clay objects have been exhibited at juried shows throughout the Mid-South."
She was preceded in death by her parents, Otis Hiram Peeler and Hattie Williams Peeler and a brother George Peeler, all of Athens, Ga.
She is survived by her husband, Myron S. McCay, UTC Guerry Professor Emeritus of Physics; son, Stan McCay, Combustion Engineering; daughter, Ann Munson of Richmond, Va.; granddaughter, Kris Moss and great granddaughter, Miranda Moss of College Park, Md.; nephew, Hiram Peeler of Dawson, Ga., and his son and two daughters and five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home with Rev. David Harr and Rev. Arnold Slater officiating.
The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 until service time on Sunday at the funeral home.
Honorary pallbearers will be Stan McCay, Ralph McCay, Jr., James McCay, Jason McCay, Daniel McCay, Ralph McCay, III., J. J. McCay, Barbara McCay, Hiram Peeler, David Peeler, David Sharpe, John McCravey, and Larry Hoenig.
Burial will be private for family members in Hamilton Memorial Gardens.
Memorial donations may be made to Congregational Care at First-Centenary United Methodist Church, 419 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37402.
Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home.