Mary Stafford Craighead Obituary

Mary Christine Stafford Craighead, 100, died on August 15, 2023 after a brief illness
at Carriage House Inn in Shelbyville, TN. She was born March 9, 1923 near Sugar
Creek in Jackson County, TN, as the first child of Edd Gore Stafford and Ara Francis
Moss Stafford. On December 22, 1939, she married Glynn Craighead, and they were
married for 52 years until his death in March, 1992. They lived near or in
Gainesboro, TN, from their marriage until 1956 when they moved to Shelbyville, TN.
In 1991, they moved to Chapel Hill, NC, and in 1994 Christine moved back to
Shelbyville where she has resided until her death. She was preceded in death by one
son, Ralph Glynn Craighead (b. Apr 28, 1945; d. June 17, 2016), and two brothers,
Ralph Eugene Stafford and Thurman Gore Stafford.
Christine is survived by one son: Wade Edward (Ed) Craighead (b. Nov 24, 1942)
who is married to Linda Wilcoxon Craighead. She is also survived by seven
Grandchildren (Jason A. Craighead of Raleigh, NC; Benjamin H. Craighead of
Salisbury, NC; Joshua A. Craighead and Justin A. Craighead of Panama City, FL; Wade
W. Craighead, and Daniel E. Craighead of Atlanta, GA, and Margaret C. Shuster of
Louisville, KY) and seven great-grandchildren.
Christine and Glynn were members of the Southside Church of Christ, where she has
been an active member. She was a quiet model as an Elder’s wife, and for years she
was a Sunday School teacher. More recently she has continued to demonstrate her
care for others in small but meaningful ways such as providing cards of “speedy
recovery” and sympathy for those who were ill or have lost a loved one. She has
lived by a deep and abiding faith, reflected in core religious beliefs and a life-guiding
principle of doing what you can to help others. She was an avid sports fan, listening
many nights to Shelbyville high school games and regularly watching her favorite
college athletic events on television until very near the end of her life. She was a
resilient and independent person coping well with the accidental drowning death of
her father when she was four-years-old and the very rapid health decline and death
of her beloved husband in 1992.
After working for many years in retail clothing stores, she spent the last 20 of her
working years as a seamstress making wedding and prom dresses for many women
in Bedford County, coats for Tennessee Walking Horse riders, window treatments
for many Shelbyville houses, and altering and repairing clothes for which many
Bedford County citizens will fondly remember her.
The family would like to express their gratitude to her many friends who have cared
for her, visited her, and taken her to many appointments during the past few years.
They would also like to express their gratitude to the residents, staff, and all her care
givers at Carriage House Inn, which has served as her home for the past eight years.
Her many friends and family will deeply miss her.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be made in her name to the
Fellowship Hall Building Fund of the Southside Church of Christ, 108 Narrows Road,
Shelbyville, TN 37160, or to the Child and Adolescent Mood Program, Emory
University, 12 Executive Park, Atlanta, GA 30329.
A memorial service will be conducted by Jeff Smith, former Minister of Southside Church of Christ, on Friday, August 18, at 11:00 a.m. The memorial service will be in the Feldhaus Memorial
Chapel, 2022 N. Main Street, Shelbyville, TN., where the family will receive friends
from 10:00-11:00 a.m. prior to the service. The burial will follow at 3:00 p.m. in the
Clark Memorial Cemetery in Jackson County, TN.
Feldhaus Memorial Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.