Nettie M. Spraker

July 3, 2002 SPRAKER, Nettie Ledbetter, age 104 of Greenwood, SC, formerly of Maryville, passed away Saturday, June 29, 2002, at Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood, SC. Nettie Mary Malinda Ledbetter, daughter of Florence Wilkerson and Rufus Leander Ledbetter, was born September 14, 1897, at Otter Creek, McDowell County, NC, the third of ten children. The family moved to East Tennessee with their “mercantile business” which once burned along with their home. In 1919 Nettie married Ralph R. Spraker, moving to Maryville, TN. He loved her dearly and encouraged her many endeavors until his death in 1974. In 1980 she moved to Columbia, SC to be near her daughter and in 1990 moved to Wesley Commons, Greenwood, SC. A small woman, unassuming in manner and appearance, she was truly a bundle of energy and determination, a tireless volunteer who gave hundreds of service hours. She often made her own clothes and could always find time for a friendly visit. She provided leadership to Tuesday Club, Chilhowee Club, Order of the Eastern Star, Friends of the Library and various church organizations. She was an officer of the Methodist Southeastern Jurisdiction W.S.C.S. and the only woman on the Building Committee of Maryville’s Asbury Acres Methodist Retirement Community, Maryville, TN. In Maryville, she authored “The History of First Methodist Church”, wrote and staged a church celebration pageant with a cast of over a hundred. After production of “The Light of the World” in Tennessee and Virginia for church women, she was commissioned by Methodist Bishop Roy L. Short to write “The Redemption of the Valley”. “A Goodly Heritage” was staged for club women at Opry Land Hotel, Nashville, TN. The Snack Bar and Gift Shop at Blount Memorial Hospital, Maryville, TN, were under her supervision for a number of years. Her inspiration was responsible for designation in 1979 of the former location of the little Mt. Gilead Church and Cemetery as an Historical Methodist site. She was recognized as Outstanding Club Woman, received the Mayor’s Community Service Award, and presented Tennessee Governor’s Distinguished Service Award by Governor Lamar Alexander. Arriving in Columbia, SC in 1980, she was soon giving volunteer service in various places, earning recognition as Outstanding Senior Citizen of Richland County. In 1988, at age 90, she was fulfilling her lifelong desire to go to college. Pictured in the press as the oldest student at the University of South Carolina as she trudged regularly up the Barnwell Street hill, she audited SPRAKER, Nettie Ledbetter Obit Continued (Page 2) classes, her favorite being one under Madam Sadat of Egypt. In Greenwood, as a nonagenarian and first resident in the new Heritage House at Wesley Commons, she helped in The Shop, in the library, and visited “the old folks” in the health care center. Ever looking forward to new experiences, she enjoyed a tour of the Holy Land, rode a camel, and fractured her ankle on the shore of the Jordan River; spent a Christmas in Germany; kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland; and attended the inauguration of two U. S. Presidents. Forever a cheerful optimist, she was also fiercely independent and chose “Gram” herself as the name family used for her. Devoted to the Methodist church, she once dismissed the suggestion to skip a service because of a heavy rain with the tart reply that “the church doesn’t leak”. Her challenge seemed to be to complete every to-do item on her daily list and then squeeze in a few more if possible. Truly a servant of the Lord, she lived a long and fruitful life spanning three centuries. Her last philosophy was, “It’s not how old you are, but how you are old”. Survivors include: daughter and son-in-law, Nettie S. and Holt Allen of Columbia, SC; four grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; sister, Mrs. Florence L. Walker; brother, Robert L. Ledbetter both of Lenoir City, TN; sister-in-law and husband, Alice S. and Boyd Goddard of Montgomery, AL; nieces, nephews and their descendants. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 6, 2002, in McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. Darris K. Doyal, of Maryville First United Methodist Church, officiating. The interment will follow in Grandview Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Saturday at McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home, Maryville, TN. Memorials may be made to Wesley Commons Retirement Community, 1110 Marshall Road, Greenwood, SC 29646. McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home, Maryville, TN (865) 982-6812 www.mccammonammonsclick.com