Halie Callaway

Mahala Marie Silvey was born on July 8, 1921, in Ava, Missouri, the daughter of Claude and Mae Silvey.

She grew up in southwest Missouri as the youngest child of a large family, graduating from what was then Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) in Springfield and attending the University of Missouri in Columbia. After her graduation, she was an art instructor at the Ozark School.

On September 2, 1951, she married Dr. Byron Callaway in the chapel of Grace Methodist Church in Springfield, Missouri. After their wedding, they moved to Athens for the first time.

In 1952, she gave birth to her daughter Cindy. In 1956, her youngest child Cal was born.

In 1956, the Callaway family left Athens, first for the University of Illinois and then Auburn University. In 1963, the family returned to Athens where she and her husband resided until their deaths.

She was a member of or volunteered for many organizations in Athens, including the Ladies Garden Club, University of Georgia Women’s Club, Salvation Army, St. Mary’s Hospital, and a charter member of the Lanier Gardens Volunteers.

When they returned to Athens in 1963, she and her family joined what is now First United Methodist Church in downtown Athens where both of her children were baptized. Over the years, she took part in a number of classes and programs at the church, including teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Byron, who died in 1999.

She is survived by her daughter Cindy, son Cal, daughter-in-law Catherine, and grandchildren Dr. Cali Callaway and Cash Callaway.

A memorial service will take place at her longtime residence, St. Mary’s Highland Hills Village, in the coming weeks.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.