The 31st chapter of Proverbs describing a virtuous woman lists a number of talents and traits of women we have all known. Many of the contributions of Altha Camille Jeffreys Tackett to family and friends parallel verses in Proverbs 31, as in “she maketh fine linen . . .” and “strength and honour are her clothing,” “she openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness, and “she looketh well to the to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”
And her children do indeed “arise up, and call her blessed.” Among the talents she so willingly shared were her gifts of sewing, gardening, and cooking. She was one of those gifted persons who could look at a drawing and make a pattern to sew a dress or gown. She could take a neglected plant into her garden and bring it back to life. Her basic recipes as well as her more exotic ones such as gazpacho enhanced with neatly chopped vegetables and croutons were family delights. She could draw and she could make a house look more like a home with her artistic talent. Her sewing included treasured tooth fairy pillows for many young friends complete with the special tooth fairy poem in the little pockets.
The third child of Mary Jane Dupree and Benjamin Franklin Jeffreys, she heartily focused on her family, devoting herself to her daughters and their families, with a love that has always extended to her sisters and brothers and her nieces and nephews. A sickly childhood made it necessary for her father to home-school her after tonsillitis and a tonsillectomy left her weak and recovering for a long period of time. Family love and nursing finally brought her back to health and allowed her to enjoy relatively good health for years. The influence of her father and his teaching of writing and reading no doubt influenced her in her love for words and her hobby of working crossword puzzles. She chuckled about ‘Papa Jeff’s’ dismay over her lack of aptitude for learning the multiplication tables and studying arithmetic.
Her love for children was shown in her work with five-year-olds in Sunday School at Calvary Baptist Church, as well as nursery work. She worshiped at South Green Baptist Church, and later also found joy in her church home when she joined St. Luke United Methodist Church.
Her ‘outside’ work included years at Reeds and then at South Central Bell where she retired in 1988. She and her family survived the Tupelo tornado of 1936, and she saw her husband, brother and brothers-in-law off to World War II.
She cherishes memories of her parents and her sisters, Velma, Alma and Ann. and her brothers, Bennie Addison (Donk) and J. C. (Billy).
Family members who delighted in and will always cherish her personality and life are her daughters Carole Kelly and her husband George, and Margaret Pickard; her grandson Marshall Jenkins; granddaughter Cameron Kelly Chennault and her husband Tim; her great-granddaughter Carly Grace Chennault; her niece Laney Sims and her husband Tip and their daughter Paula; brother and sister-in-law Huey and Linda Jeffreys; and sister-in-law Betty Jeffreys.
“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Proverbs 31:30 Surely Altha favored this verse, but there was nothing wrong with her asking for her lipstick even when being treated in the emergency room. She confessed with a chuckle that her longevity might be attributed to the fact that she felt her kids don’t have sense enough to handle things without her. . .
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