Mattie Lou Mease Penland, 90, a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, of 1175 Peachtree Hills Road, died Wednesday, May 9, 2001, in a local health care center with her family at her bedside. A native of Clay County, she was a daughter of the late Edward C. and Jessie Mae Passmore Mease. She attended Mars Hill College and was a graduate of Western Carolina University. She was an elementary teacher in Clay and Cherokee Counties, retiring in 1974. She was a member of the N.C.E.A., N.E.A., Retired Teachers Association-Murphy Chapter, National Federation of Business Professional Women's Club, Inc., and Joan McDowell Chapter #11 Order of the Eastern Star. Her hobbies were knitting and crocheting and she loved to work with her flowers and fish with her family at their home on Big Choga. She and her husband, J. Robert Penland, would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in July of this year. Surviving, in addition to J. Robert, are a son, Joseph Robert "Bud" Penland and wife Becky of Murphy; two daughters, Jo Ann Thompson and husband Charles of Woodstock, Ga., and Bobbie Lou Caldwell and husband Hardy of Hendersonville; a sister, Jane Snowdon and husband Alex of Hayesville; eight grandchildren, Lu Ann Snipes, Melinda Hogg, Tommy and Chuck Thompson, Bo Caldwell, Penny Hall and Bob and Brad Penland; and 18 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by two brothers, White and Edward "Dick" Mease, and two sisters, Inez "Tud" Kahn and Margaret "Peggy" Zimmerman. A service of remembrance will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Oak Forest United Methodist Church in Hayesville, of which she was a member, with the Revs. Jacob Kyker, Clyde Faulkner and Jackie Sellers officiating. The family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall following the services. Private graveside services will be held at the church cemetery. A special thanks to her caregiver for the past six years, Kathy McClain. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Oak Forest United Methodist Church Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 152, Hayesville, NC 28904 or Good Shepherd Hospice, 540 West U.S. 64, Murphy, NC 28906. Penland & Sons Funeral Home, Swannanoa, is in charge of arrangements. (828) 686-5447

Mattie Lou Mease Penland, 90, a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, of 1175 Peachtree Hills Road, died Wednesday, May 9, 2001, in a local health care center with her family at her bedside. A native of Clay County, she was a daughter of the late Edward C. and Jessie Mae Passmore Mease. She attended Mars Hill College and was a graduate of Western Carolina University. She was an elementary teacher in Clay and Cherokee Counties, retiring in 1974. She was a member of the N.C.E.A., N.E.A., Retired Teachers Association-Murphy Chapter, National Federation of Business Professional Women's Club, Inc., and Joan McDowell Chapter #11 Order of the Eastern Star. Her hobbies were knitting and crocheting and she loved to work with her flowers and fish with her family at their home on Big Choga. She and her husband, J. Robert Penland, would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in July of this year. Surviving, in addition to J. Robert, are a son, Joseph Robert "Bud" Penland and wife Becky of Murphy; two daughters, Jo Ann Thompson and husband Charles of Woodstock, Ga., and Bobbie Lou Caldwell and husband Hardy of Hendersonville; a sister, Jane Snowdon and husband Alex of Hayesville; eight grandchildren, Lu Ann Snipes, Melinda Hogg, Tommy and Chuck Thompson, Bo Caldwell, Penny Hall and Bob and Brad Penland; and 18 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by two brothers, White and Edward "Dick" Mease, and two sisters, Inez "Tud" Kahn and Margaret "Peggy" Zimmerman. A service of remembrance will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Oak Forest United Methodist Church in Hayesville, of which she was a member, with the Revs. Jacob Kyker, Clyde Faulkner and Jackie Sellers officiating. The family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall following the services. Private graveside services will be held at the church cemetery. A special thanks to her caregiver for the past six years, Kathy McClain. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Oak Forest United Methodist Church Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 152, Hayesville, NC 28904 or Good Shepherd Hospice, 540 West U.S. 64, Murphy, NC 28906. Penland & Sons Funeral Home, Swannanoa, is in charge of arrangements. (828) 686-5447