Ellen Mae Safley King

Ellen Mae Safley King (November 2, 1919 – September 2, 2017), native of Morrison, TN, graduate of Irving College High School, employee at City Bank and Trust Company and lifelong member of the Church of Christ, and friend to all she knew, died at NHC of McMinnville on Saturday. Survivors include children, John Drew King and wife Lill of McMinnville, Minnie Jane King of Knoxville, TN, Ellen Kaye Gentry and husband David of Farragut, TN, Johnny Sue Duke and husband Nile of Plano, TX, and Philip Woodson King, III and wife Sharron Sue of Knoxville, TN; 14 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Philip Woodson King, Jr.; her parents, John Robert Safley and Minnie Estella Melton Safley; her daughter, Martha Jo King; her siblings, Lonnie Safley of Columbia, Marcus Safley of Nashville, Baxter Safley of Nashville, Jesse Safley of Nashville and Beatrice Safley Webster of Chestnut Mound, TN; a granddaughter, Deidra Duke; and a grandson, Jeremy Howell. Ellen grew up in Safley Hollow in Warren County and started her schooling at Safley Chapel, a one-room school house just a stone’s throw from her family home. Her schoolmaster was a tough disciplinarian – her father, John R. Safley. She went on to Irving College High School where she graduated. Having four older brothers at the high school was not always to her advantage. She met her sweetheart, Woodson, at Young Farmers and Homemakers events and married him on March 27, 1942 in Knoxville where she worked for a time at the AAA office on the University of Tennessee agriculture campus while Woodson was attending UT. They were married for 66 years before Woodson passed away in 2008. She lived in Houston, Texas, Brunswick, Maine, Wellesley, Massachusetts, and McMinnville during WWII while her husband was in the Navy. The family then settled in Centerville, Tennessee after the war before moving back to Warren County in 1951 to live on the King farm in Morrison and to rear their family there. Ellen worked in the Morrison School cafeteria and later at City Bank and Trust Company in McMinnville, where she was a friend and business professional to a large segment of Warren County’s population. Ellen, a lifelong Democrat, was loved by family and friends, and she reciprocated that love to all. She especially loved babies and children. Besides her family, she enjoyed gardening and flowers. She was a good business, no-nonsense woman, and she will be missed greatly, but cherished in memory, by her family and friends. The family wishes to express appreciation to our mother’s caregivers during the last few years and months of her life: Linda Cagle, Rita Lanier, Kathy Dye, Heather Jones, the staff at Caris Health and NHC of McMinnville - and especially to grandchild, Jonna, who stayed faithfully by her side during the past several years. Ellen’s family will receive friends at High Funeral Home on Wednesday evening, September 6, 2017 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. and Thursday afternoon, September 7, 2017 from 3:00-5:00 p.m., followed by a service at High Funeral Home at 5:00 p.m., with burial at sunset in the Morrison Cemetery. Online condolences may be made at www.highfuneralhome.com High Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.