Alice Ressie Stoner

August 21, 1924 - September 12, 2017

Alice Ressie McDowell Stoner August 21, 1924 - September 12, 2017 Sylvania, AL Ressie Stoner of Sylvania, AL passed away on September 12 at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville after an illness. She was preceded in death by her husband, Henry E. Stoner, JR, and one son Gary H. Stoner. Her parents, Felton R. McDowell and Alice A. McDowell, and one brother Loyd McDowell. She is survived by three daughters, Sheila S. Bridges (William) of Lawrenceburg, TN, Glenda S. Kendrick (Ronnie) of Claremore, OK, and Gigi S. Wilson (Steve) of Harvest, AL. 6 grandchildren, Rachel Lee (Dustin), Jamie Wilson, Henry Bridges, Randy Wilson, Justin Stoner (Haley), and Brandi Kendrick. 9 great grandchildren also survive. Ressie was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. She is affectionately called Good Grandma by her grandchildren, because if Great Grandma was great then grandma must be good. She looked after her husband and his construction business, and love of baseball. Many nights were spent at the ballpark, keeping books, working the concessions, and coaching Little League. She raised four beautiful children and built their character through work, scouting, ball, and travel. As a Girl Scout Leader she carried her troop camping and spent the night combing the woods for a crying lost girl, only to find that the screams were that of a bobcat over the ridge. Or the time that she thought she should enjoy the water slide just as much as her children did, but forgot to close her mouth and said she bubbled all the way to the bottom of the pool. Ressie has been a pillar of strength for her family in any turn life has placed in her path. At 30 years of marriage, she lost the love of her life much too soon. They were in the prime of their life to slow down and enjoy their first two grandchildren. She stood strong and kept herself busy, her trade was not necessarily a learned one, but one that you truly must have a knack to master. The art of “junking”, or trade day and flea markets. Ressie could haggle a salesman into paying her for his wares! Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but she would buy someone else's junk, and find the most unexpected treasures on the inside. She taught her children, grandchildren, and even the greats to not ever take something for granted and never to judge a book by its cover. She would make a weekly routine of trade day booths, which she operated for many years, evening auctions at Trenton, GA, and always growing a large garden with her mother. If she had wanted to attend college, I think that landscaping or horticulture would have been her fit, there is no green thumb in the world like Ressie Stoner’s. She would walk by a plant that she thought would be nice to have, snap off a twig, wrap it in a paper towel, and at home stick it in the ground, then there it would grow. She cultivated that love of plants and flea markets with the grandkids, who would spend their summer break digging up lilys and she’d let them sell them at the market. Although, she may have wished she had been more clear about how they spent their earnings. A trip to grandma’s house was not a typical vacation, but you could not have told those kids otherwise. Working in the yard, tending the garden, putting up the food, going to trade day were the events we looked forward too. When we were old enough we got to go to the late night auctions in Trenton, however the side trip before the auctions were most exciting, to take Long John Silvers over to Chickamauga Battlefield to eat and climb the tower. She bought us our first scratch off lottery tickets just across the Georgia line, and knew just what to cook for us when we came to visit. She taught us that hard work was the honest way to build a life, and if you are not rich or grown up, you should just be quiet and get back to work! In her later years, she has loved her great grandchildren dearly, laughing at their stunts, singing to them in her lap and on the phone, teaching them those same lessons about value and hard work. She has shown a love to live and to care that rubs off on everyone who met her. Now the time has come for her to go home, she loves home, it’s where her love of over 60 years that never faded is, where the little boy who calls for mom plays ball in the field, and it’s where rest and peace are eternal and we will see her again. Bye Bye Baby Bunting, Daddy’s gone a hunting For to find a rabbit skin To wrap the Baby Bunting in. Funeral services will be held on Friday, September 15, 2017 at 2pm from Rainsville Funeral Home Chapel with Mr. Ronnie Galloway officiating. Burial will follow in Unity Cemetery with Rainsville Funeral Home, Inc. directing, www.rainsvillefuneralhome.com. Visitation will be Friday, September 15th from 10am-2pm.