Odessa Sumner Finch Duke was born on March 25, 1928 on Dog Creek in Cheatham County, Tennessee. She passed from earthly life to eternal life with her Lord Jesus Christ on September 3, 2024.
Her parents were Lenon Finch and Martha Cauthen Finch. She had four brothers—Ed, Charles, Phin, and Malcolm—and two sisters–one who died at birth and Jewel. All of them passed before her.
She married Leslie Ivy Duke in January 1949. He passed away in March 2015. They had two children, Sally, married to Cliff, whom she increasingly referred to as her 2nd son, and Johnny, married to Vickie, her 2nd daughter. She had nine grandchildren—Christiane, Micah, David, Caleb, Jonathan, Jacob, Mary Love, Sarah Beth, and Grace. She had nine great-grandchildren—Patrick, Henry, Laurel, Andrew, Caleb, John, Noah, Peter, and Isaac. She loved every one of them.
Family for her did not stop there. She was close to the Duke family. Whenever they came to town to visit, Charles and Gladys, Marvin and Mary and their children always came to Dessa’s house to eat. She was close to her sister-in-law, Iris Jean Duke. Every Christmas growing up, Bill and Elvadean and their girls came to eat Dessy’s turkey and dressing. Of the aunts and uncles, only Uncle Bill remains with us.
She loved and was loved by her many nieces and nephews. Naturally, she was close to Jewel’s children, who refer to her as their 2nd mother. She also stayed in touch with the children and grandchildren of her other siblings. She remained close to the nieces and nephews on the Duke side of the family as well. A special part of her 90th Birthday Party was the time spent with most of the Finch cousins and Duke cousins. Both sides of the family came from far and near–California, Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.
One more step out. She loved and was loved by her church family and neighbors.
She was buried in baptism into Christ as a child on Dog Creek. For many years she was a member of Charlotte Avenue Church of Christ. Later, she was member at Granny White and Franklin Road. After returning to the West Nashville area, she planned to reunite with Charlotte Avenue, but began taking her Aunt Amy Odessa, after whom she was named, to West Nashville Heights Church of Christ. She became a member there and especially enjoyed the Ladies Bible Class and a group of ladies who ate out together to celebrate each other’s birthdays. She might be the last of that group. She was happy when Charlotte Avenue and West Nashville Heights merged to become Charlotte Heights—her last church home.
She left home at 16 with her older sister Jewel to work for O’Brien’s Manufacturing, where she sewed service uniforms and overalls. She was a homemaker. Later, she became a Stanley Home Products dealer and was promoted to a District Manager. Her last formal job was a receptionist with MicroBuilt.
She loved to cook for family, friends, and church. Family from out of town ended up at Aunt Dessa’s. She was the “Pie Lady” at Charlotte Heights Church of Christ due to her delicious homemade fried pies. Sunday dinner at her house consisted what locals would call “a spread”—a couple of meat dishes, several vegetables, slaw, and Mac and Cheese for grandkids and great-grandkids. Often dessert was her famous chocolate cake.
She continued to live at home until she turned 96 this year—thanks in a larger part to the care given her by her wonderful neighbors, Fran, Jackie, Billy, Pearson, Shyla, Sam and Debbie, and Troy—and a couple of timely stays from her niece Elaine. The past months she lived with Sally and Cliff who took great care of her.
She would want to be remembered and will be remembered as a person of faith, family, and friends.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nashville-tn
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