Sara Parkinson Pressly

Sara Adelia Parkinson Pressly January 27, 1914 – April 15, 2009 Mrs. Pressly passed away peacefully on Wednesday with her children and niece present. She was born in Due West, SC, the third of six children born to Edna Ramsey and Gilbert Gordon Parkinson. Mr. Parkinson taught at Erskine Seminary for fifty years. She attended Due West schools and graduation from Erskine College in 1935. After graduating she taught at Thornwell Orphanage and for three years at a girl school in Cairo, Egypt. She married Reverend Henry E. Pressly on June 9, 1942. He was the first ARP minister to enter the military as a chaplain after the outbreak of World War II where he served on the front line ministering to his fellow soldiers as well as assisting with medical operations on the battlefield itself. Mrs. Pressly joined her husband from 1948 – 1950 in Scotland where he attended seminary, studying for his PHD at University of Edinburgh actually attending classes with him taking notes as well as typing his thesis. Mrs. Pressly and her husband served at the Anderson ARP Church and later at the East Avenue Tabernacle Church in Charlotte, NC from 1950 – 1980 until Dr. Pressly retired. After her husband's death in 1998, she moved back home to Due West where she joined her brother, Gordon Parkinson and his wife, Isabel and her sister Edna P. Morrison as a resident of the Due West Retirement Center as well as her brother Brown Parkinson and family close by in Greenville, SC and her nieces Sara Morrison and Mary Parkinson Jenkins who reside in Due West. Mrs. Pressly is survived by her daughter Margaret Rose Pressly of Sylva, NC, a son Gordon Hearst Pressly and granddaughter Erin Ramsey Pressly of Charlotte, NC as well as many loved ones in both in the Parkinson and Pressly families and all those whom she ever came into contact with. She leaves us all with an example of Humility, Faith and Peace and a caring heart. The family requests all memorials be in the form of an Act of Kindness for someone who is less fortunate. Services for Mrs. Pressly will be held this Sunday, April 19, 2009 in Statesville, NC beginning with a graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery at 2 p.m. followed by a service at the First ARP Church at 3 p.m. located at 123 East Broad Street. Traveling north on Interstate #77, to Exit #50 (Broad Street) in Statesville, turn left, travel approximately ½ mile. Oakwood Cemetery on right. The church is approximately ½ mile past Oakwood Cemetery. Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com Harris Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Abbeville, SC is assisting the Pressly family.