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Jannie Faye Mathis

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Graveside service is at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at Maplewood Cemetery, with visitation from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Holt Memorial Chapel.

Jannie Faye Mathis, known by all family and friends by her middle name Faye, was born on Feb. 17, 1920, in Everton, to Charlie and Mettie Jane Garner. She was the fifth child in their family of eight children. She went to be with the LORD at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2 (2019) in Lansing, Michigan. 

Faye attended school in Alpena and graduated from Harrison High School. She married Rex Clayton Mathis and they had two sons, Harold Dean Mathis and Robert Rex Mathis, both of whom entered the ministry, one serving primarily in the pastorate and the other primarily as a seminary educator in two of the nation’s largest seminaries. 

Faye, along with being a wife and mother, worked in various retail businesses and in her early 50s fulfilled her lifelong dream of starting a business of her own. She bought a quilting machine, taught herself how to use it and went to work for herself. She even taught courses on quilting in the adult education program at the junior college in Harrison. Over the next three and a half decades she made and sold thousands of quilts mostly through word of mouth advertising, custom orders, and by finding clients through selling at craft shows wherever she lived. During those years she lived in Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Mississippi. 

Faye was a lifelong church attender and vibrant witness to her faith in Christ to her final moments. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Harrison.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Rex Mathis; her son Dr. Robert Rex Mathis; her brothers, Hugh Garner, Howard Garner and their spouses; and sisters, Hazel Garner, and Ardith Taylor, and Jimmie Lou Bradley and her husband A.B. 

Survivors include her son, Dr. Harold Dean Mathis and his wife Betty Sue; daughter-in-law, Odene Mathis; three grandchildren, Ross Mathis, Dr. Temple Odom and her husband Dr. Aaron Odom, and Karissa Mathis Luckett and her husband, Dr. Peter Luckett; one brother, Dr. Conrad Garner and his wife Dr. Lucille Garner; one sister, Jonnie Chitwood; nieces, Ralph L. Robinson and Peggy Barton; nephew, Charlie Robinson; and other nieces and nephews; 13 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. 

Visitation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Holt Memorial Chapel. A graveside service is at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at Maplewood Cemetery, officiated by Dr. Dean Mathis. All her friends are invited to join her family at these gatherings.

Condolences may be left online www.holtchapel.com . 



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