Lucile H. Dowdy

IVY LUCILE HECKLE DOWDY, of Oakland, TN, formerly of Memphis, retired employee of Sears, Roebuck and Company, passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2015. She was born in Saint Matthew, SC on December 8, 1919 to Jessie Zeigler and Grover Cleveland Heckle. A graduate of Saint Matthews High School, she served in the National Youth Administration before moving to Memphis during World War II. She worked at both the Crosstown and Laurelwood Sears stores before retiring in 1982. A member of Cherokee Baptist Church, she sang in the senior choir and helped organize the church’s ministry of providing food to families in hospital waiting rooms. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband John M. Dowdy, her brothers, Cleveland, Bernie, Furman and Raymond Heckle, sisters Olivia Hair and Viola Heckle and daughter-in-law Barbara Nance Dowdy. She is survived by her son Gerald M. Dowdy, grandsons G. Wayne and William Jonathan “Bud” Dowdy, great-granddaughter Britney Dowdy Pierce, great-grandsons Cody Austin and Brandon Ryan Dowdy, granddaughter-in-law Robin Clement Dowdy, great-grandson-in-law Larry Hank Pierce and great-great-granddaughter Mallorie Ann Pierce. You are invited to a gathering of family and friends on Tuesday, May 26 from 5 - 7 p.m. in the evening at Memphis Funeral Home, 3700 N. Germantown Pkwy., Bartlett, TN. Services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 27 also at the funeral home. Interment will follow in Memphis Memory Gardens, 6444 Raleigh Lagrange Rd. Memphis, TN The family requests, in lieu of flowers, memorials be made in her name to Cherokee Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. Online condolences may be expressed by visiting www.memphisfuneralhome.net