Thelma C. Mullins' Obituary
Thelma Colleen Mullins was born on April 16th 1926, at home in Alva Kentucky. Due to a coal mining accident in 1930 that took the life of her Father, she and her three siblings, two brothers and one sister, were placed in an orphanage in Kentucky. Her mother was unable to care for the children and find work to support herself. While in the orphanage, Mom wouldn’t eat as she should have. Her older sister, Dorothy, would look out for her as much as she could and bring her some food. After about a year in the Orphanage, an aunt on her father’s side, Hazel, removed Mom in order to care for and raise her. Her early years were spent living in a hotel, where Aunt Hazel had a beauty shop. After finishing High School, and a short time in college, Mom moved to Clearwater Florida, to be with her Mother, who had remarried, and where she now resided. It was here that she reunited with her siblings who were already in Florida.
Mom was very active in Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater, which was located downtown. She attended Training Union, and became lifelong friends with Gertrude Smith. They remained friends for 50 Years, until Gertrude went to her eternal home. Mom met Dad while they were both working at the Woolworth Five & Dime store in downtown Clearwater. Mom stood 4’ 7” and Dad was 6’ 2” tall. Dad was her boss in the store and Mom would try to get along side of him to see how they would look together. She would use the plate glass window, or the mirror display in front to check Dad out. She liked what she saw, as she always wanted to marry her boss, so she pursued Dad.
After a short courtship, they were married in the parsonage of Calvary Baptist Church on Nov. 24th 1949. This union lasted for 66 years and 4 months, and produced two children Karen in 1950, and James Curtis in 1955.
Mom loved God, and this showed every day of her life. She loved her family very much. As Karen matured, she and her Mother became best friends. The reverse of the norm, as the early years were the tumultuous ones. She was the best friend and teacher a girl could have ever asked for. During Karen’s and Curtis’ younger years, Mom worked from home as a child care provider. She taught many a child how to read before each child started school. She loved each of those boys and girls that she was entrusted with. She will tell you she stopped her in-home daycare when Curtis asked her to. She agreed and started working in the Junior League Thrift Shop located in downtown Clearwater. Karen was working in the Bank of Clearwater, that was located a block away and the two were able to have lunch together most days. One of those days, when Mom came by the bank for lunch, it was very windy. How windy you might ask. It was strong enough that mom had to hold onto the building, as the wind was knocking her off her feet. She felt like she was going to be blown away. It has provided a good laugh over the years. Mom enjoyed her time working in the Thrift shop. She would sort clothes when they came in and set aside what she thought each one in the family could use and like.
She was so energetic with this that one day she put aside clothes for her granddaughter Elizabeth, specific clothes that she thought would look good on Elizabeth. And they would have had they not been the very same clothes that Karen had just donated to the Thrift shop that morning as they were now too small for Beth. This provided a few good laughs for the family over the years. Her years at the Thrift Shop were such a blessing by keeping all the grandchildren in clothes saving lots of money for Karen’s and Curtis’ families.
We will always remember how each grandchild in the family would run into the house to measure themselves against Mom. The goal of each child was to be taller than Mom. They all succeeded. Mom always said that good things came in small packages, and in her case it was true. She had a loving heart for everyone.
When Curtis and his family were deployed overseas, Mom would read books to tape for her grandchildren, Kimmerann, Maranda and Curtis. The grandchildren would look forward to each and every tape and listen to them over and over. They could hear and feel the love from their Grandmother with each tape.
Mom had a gift for writing poetry. Unfortunately she lost this gift when she suffered a stroke in 1995. She recovered from the stroke, but was never the same afterwards. She lost her sense of smell, so Dad had to take over doing all the cooking, which he did as he was now fully retired.
She also lost her short term memory which did come back just not fully, and her sense of well being or confidence. She was now afraid to be alone,which lasted the rest of her life. Dad couldn’t be out of her sight, even to go and get the mail at the end of the driveway. When Dad would simply be out back, mowing the backyard, Mom would be panicking without him. She would only relax once he came back inside.
Following the stroke she developed a love for stuffed bears. We had to put up shelves all around the living room to accommodate her collection. Mom loved reading also. She could read a book in a day, and often had difficulty putting a book down in order to take her afternoon nap or go to bed for the evening. She was instructed to take one when she had Curtis and as they never told her to stop, she never did. Even getting her to go to bed at night was a challenge, as she said I will just read until the end of the chapter. Twenty minutes later you would remind her it was bedtime, and find that she was now two chapters deeper into the story. Her other passion was doing Search-A-Word puzzles, and in her later life took up colouring. This might have been something she never had a chance to enjoy when she was growing up.
When she lost Dad after having been married for 66 years she lost her joy in life. All she wanted from that day on was to be with Dad. She is now with him and happy once again. Mom was blessed to have had a life filled with love, children and family. Mom is survived by Karen and her husband Kevin, Curtis and his wife Martina, four grandchildren, seven (soon to be eight) great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren. She leaves a lasting legacy. We will miss her every day but we will also rejoice knowing that we will see her again, as this is the promise from our Lord and Saviour.
What’s your fondest memory of Thelma?
What’s a lesson you learned from Thelma?
Share a story where Thelma's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Thelma you’ll never forget.
How did Thelma make you smile?