- Maxine Jeanette Reece Michael passed into eternal rest on December 5, 2021, surrounded by loved ones at Hermitage Health Center in Elizabethton, Tennessee. A faithful servant of the Lord, she has completed her course with the race won.
The eldest of nine children, she was born on October 22, 1935, in Shady Valley to the late Martin L. Reece and the late Wilma Heaton Reece. She grew up in Trade, Tennessee.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Robert Michael. She was also preceded by her second husband, Andy Price. Her son, Robert B. Michael, and brothers, Freddie Reece, Jerry Reece, Johnnie Reece, Tommie Reece, and Eugene Reece also precede her.
She is survived by a large, loving family: Her children, Hazel (John) Hollaway, Cathy (Ernest Ray) Michael, Marty (Karen Horne) Michael, Joy (Brenden) Michael Bohannon, and daughter-in-law Althea Michael; 13 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren; Brothers Gary (Roseletta) Reece, Bill (Glenda) Reece, sister Margaret (Larry) Wallace, sisters-in-law Carolyn Reece, Phyllis Reece, and Elaine Reece and a great number of nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was especially close to her grandchildren Madalyn, Lauryn, Kristyn, and Cormac.
During her life Maxine filled a number of roles, among them: homemaker, a worker in the bean fields when Mountain City was the Green Bean Capitol of the World, keeping boarders while her young family lived in Pennsylvania, cleaning for individuals and businesses in Oregon and Tennessee, as well as the Mountain City and Trade Post Offices, operating a variety store in the Old Trade School, working at both Burlington and Leco, making and selling beautiful quilts, and was a contract mail carrier for many years. She took great joy and pride in hard work and a job well done, but the roles of which she was most proud was being a mother and grandmother.
She became a Christian at Centerview Church of Christ in Trade and was a member of First Christian Church of Mountain City for decades. She maintained a card ministry for the Joy Class at FCC until dementia stole her ability to do so.
Maxine was a voracious reader throughout most of her life. She was an avid gardener known for her beautiful yard on North Church Street. She loved every baby she ever saw, she never met a Little Debbie cake she didn’t like, and made the absolute best potato soup and cornbread that anyone has ever had.
A viewing for all immediate and extended family members will be from 11:00 to 11:30 AM on Thursday, December 9, 2021, at Mountain City Funeral Home. A service led by Pastor Dwayne Dickson will be held from 11:30-12:30 with interment at Sunset Memorial Park following. Pallbearers are Marty Michael, John Hollaway, Peyton Hollaway, David Hollaway, Brenden Bohannon, and Ernest Ray.
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1935 - 2021 (86 years)
