Edith Blocker Staggs

View Video TributeView Funeral Webcast Edith Blocker Staggs, 92, of Collierville, formerly of Hendersonville, passed away Sunday, August 12, 2012 at the home of her daughter, Sue Bigham, in Collierville. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with her son, Tommy Staggs officiating. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends Wednesday from 12:00 noon until time of service at the funeral home. The Maury County native was the daughter of the late Grover Cleveland Blocker and Annie Wilma Bishop Blocker and was a graduate of Hampshire High School. She married Charlie Franklin Staggs who preceded her in death on February 5, 1975. Mrs. Staggs was retired from Turner Manufacturing and was an employee of Tennessee Eastman Corporation in Oak Ridge, TN where she participated in work essential to the production of the Atomic Bomb, thereby contributing to the successful conclusion of World War II receiving the Army-Navy "E" award. Mrs. Staggs was a member of Holiday Heights Baptist Church in Hendersonville. She loved her God, her family, fishing, softball and playing the penny slots at Tunica. Survivors include her children, Jo Ann (Gerald) Brightwell of Opelika, Alabama, Tommy (Mary Jo) Staggs of Earle, Arkansas, Sue (Billy) Bigham and Billy (Lynn) Staggs both of Collierville; brother, Ray Blocker of Mt. Pleasant; sisters, Alma Massey of Cross Bridges, Ruby (David) Westmoreland of Columbia; brother-in-law, James Winchester of Columbia; sister-in-law, Mary Sue Blocker of Hampshire; nineteen grandchildren; fourteen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by a sister, Katie Winchester and three brothers, Allen Blocker, Herbert Blocker and Carl Blocker. Active pallbearers will be Chuck Longfellow, Matt Bigham, Jeremy Bigham, Jonathan Sain, Scott Kennedy, Tommy Vaughn, James Wilkinson and Roy Phillips. Honorary pallbearers include Gerald Brightwell and Billy Bigham.