Mable Louise Bly – She was born on September 5, 1939 to Herbert Lee Rose and Ida Pauline Burnett. She was the eldest of five living children and moved to Nashville from Montgomery County when she was nine years old.
She fell in love and married Sam Robert Bly in Cannon County on July 6, 1957. She was widowed ten years later at age 28 with six children and one on the way. Soon after, she fully submitted her life to God and would go on to teach Sunday school and Junior Church at First Assembly of God in Nashville, even teaching Bible Study to inmates at Tennessee State Prison as part of the Seven Step Program. Throughout her ministry, she became known as Sister Bly and the mother of the Seven Step Program. Her primary work was as a Secretary for Panorama Apartments, but she carried out many other occupations such as service desk at Hill’s Department Store.
She was a proud grandmother of many grandchildren. She was diagnosed with dementia in 2018 and began to forget much of her life and family, however she never forgot her connection with God, and even in her mental state would still be heard praying and singing church hymns.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Herbert and Pauline Rose; her husband, Sam Bly; her children, Sandra and Micheal Bly; as well as the baby she lost who would be named Julie; and her siblings, Linda, Laura, Herbert, and William Rose.
She is survived in death by her children, Jan, Cindy, Samantha, Ronald, and Robert Bly; her grandchildren, Scotty, Dustin, Chad, Nicholas, Victoria, and Julianna, as well as her great grandchildren, Ace and Aries.
On the night of July 2, 2021, she went to sleep and was called home in the morning on July 3rd.
As per her words in life, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
Funeral services will be conducted at Woodbine Funeral Home, 3620 Nolensville Road, Nashville with visitation on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and services will be officiated by Alan Baggett on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at 11 a.m. Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, 660 Thompson Lane. She will be laid to rest next to her parent’s shared grave, and adjacent to her sister, Laura.
