Obituary: Lela 'Tootie' Gowdy

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Lela "Tootie" Gowdy, 85, Carrier Mills, passed away peacefully at 12:13 a.m. Monday, May 21, 2012, at Harrisburg Medical Center.

She was born on Sept. 3, 1926, in Gallatin County, the daughter of the late Claude and Violet Medlin Thompson. On Dec. 31, 1941, she married Robert W. "Bob" Gowdy, and he preceded her in death on June 22, 2002.

She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Carrier Mills.

She is survived by two daughters, Claudia (Rodney) Deuel of Carrier Mills and Carol (Pat) Dagley of Marion; four grandchildren, Willie (Tiffany) Deuel, Scott (Leah) Deuel, Missy (Brad) Rigsby and Kristina (Sean) Zehr; and eight great-grandchildren, Caitlyn, Anthony and Carter Deuel, Binta Sanyang, Bethany (Blake) Mathis, Patrick and Alexis Rigsby and Elizabeth Zehr.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; and a brother, G.L. Thompson.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 24, 2012, at the Absher-Nicholson Funeral Home in Carrier Mills with the Rev. Willie Deuel and the Rev. Stan Irvin officiating. Burial will be in the Union Ridge Cemetery near New Haven.

Visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to the service time at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the funeral home.

The preferred choice of remembrance would be memorials in her memory to the First United Methodist Church Building Fund in Carrier Mills. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.