Kay Tarlton Reynolds, 65, passed away peacefully Sunday, May 13, 2018, at Laughlin Healthcare Center after a courageous 13 year battle with cancer. The battle is now over, the victory is won; and she is at home with the Lord.
She professed her faith in Christ at an early age and was a member of Pine Springs Baptist Church. In her later years she attended First Baptist Church in Greeneville, where she was a member of the Koinonia Sunday School Class and had developed a number of wonderful friendships.
Kay was a graduate of South Greene High School as co-valedictorian of her class and Greeneville Business College. Later in life she completed one year of study at Walters State Community College. Only her failing health kept her from completing her desired Bachelor’s Degree. She worked for 35 years as Administrative Office Manager at the Greeneville Eye Clinic and worked a number of years earlier at the Greene County Courthouse.
She had a vivacious, outgoing personality, a quick wit and a marvelous sense of humor. A talented musician with a lovely singing voice, she and her sister frequently sang duets, especially in their younger years. She was a wonderful mother and made the statement a few days ago that her proudest accomplishments in life were her two sons, Drew and Ethan. They often tell of her personally teaching them to play baseball and other wonderful stories of their childhood. She truly adored her grandchildren, and her every conversation invariably included pictures and the latest updates on them. She was extremely bright and multi-talented and will be sorely missed by her family and friends.
Kay is survived by two beloved sons and their wives: Dr. Drew H. and Dr. Laura E. Griffith Reynolds of Nashville and Dr. Ethan E. and Sherry L. Reynolds of St. Louis; eight dearly loved grandchildren: Archer David, Palmer Ellen, Alice Drew, Scott Forrest, and Miller Gaines Reynolds, all of Nashville, Emmett Emerson and Isabella Lynn Reynolds, and Andrew Nicholas Speck, all of St. Louis. Eagerly-anticipated baby Isabella was born only a few hour after and on the same day as Kay’s passing. Additional survivors include one loving sister and her husband, Shelia T. Ellison-Moore and Jerry J. Moore; two nieces and their husband: Christy K. Ellison-Kemf and Dr. Andreas J. Kemf of Linz, Austria, and Courtney L. Ellison Mabe and Chad R. Mabe of Johnson City; two very special grand-nephews, Daniel Patrick Garner Kemf and Sebastian Elias Kemf, both of Linz, Austria; a loving uncle and two aunts: Robert L. and Ada Warren Tarlton and Ina Ruth Bowman Tarlton, along with numerous cousins and a large extended family. She is survived, as well, by close loving friends Kathy Ridley, Sheila Alexander, Karen Roberts, Marsha Ottem, Marilda Hurley and others too numerous to mention.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 34 years, David H. Reynolds, her parents Rev. R. G. and Zella G. Dickison Tarlton, and brother-in-law, Roger R. Ellison, her father-in-law and mother-in-law, Robert H. and Patricia West Reynolds, as well as several uncles, aunts and cousins whom she loved very much.
The family will receive friends 2-4 and 6-8 pm Thursday at Kiser-Rose Hill Funeral Home.
Funeral services will be held at 11 am Friday in the funeral home chapel with Rev. Gerald Tarlton officiating. Interment will follow at Pine Springs Baptist Church Cemetery. Pallbearers will be family and friends. Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Dharmen J. Patel, Dr. William J. Smead, Dr. Luke L. Ellenburg, Dr. Laura L. Urban, Dr. Thomas L. Brown, Dr. R. Stephen Flohr, J. V. Tarlton, Jr., Robert H. Gay, Michael A. Roberts, Noah Roark, Jonathan Cave, Adam Roark, Adam Rymer, Phillip Gray, the caregivers at Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice, Morning Pointe of Greeneville, and Laughlin Healthcare Center.
