Irma Sue Petrey Clifton

Irma Sue Petrey Clifton went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, October 8th, in Athens, Georgia.

Irma was born to James Ardell Petrey and Thelma Adkins Petrey on June 28, 1940, in Jellico, Tennessee, their fifth child and fourth daughter. She was a 1958 graduate of Jellico High School, where she was a member of the marching band, Homecoming queen her junior year, and recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution citizenship award at graduation. 

She attended Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky, majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry. At Cumberland, she again appeared on the homecoming court and was also the unofficial “Jellico taxi” for many of her fellow commuters. She followed college with a year’s demanding clinical training as a lab technician at Norton Infirmary in Louisville, KY.

After a few years in hospital settings, however, Irma switched to teaching and taught for a total of 36 years in Ohio (in the 1960’s and again in the early 2000’s), Tennessee (the longest, from which she retired), and Georgia (for two years after retirement). Jokingly describing herself as a jack of all trades, over the years she taught high school and middle school science and math, elementary second and third grade, chorus, and once (her least favorite) PE.

In 1985, she was in the first cohort to undergo the exam and observations and became a certified master teacher under the education reforms of then-governor of Tennessee Lamar Alexander. Along the way, she earned two graduate degrees, one in health education from Union College in Barbourville, KY, and the other from Cumberland in elementary education, as well as pursued additional coursework at East Tennessee State University. She also taught evening GED classes for several years. 

A lifelong Baptist and a talented musician, Irma sang in the choir as a teenager at Jellico First Baptist, and later played the piano and then organ there for several decades; she played regularly for Sunday morning and evening services, adult and children’s choir practices, Wednesday evening services, and Tuesday outreach services at a local retirement community. She was also asked to play for scores of weddings, funerals, and school programs over the years.

Irma’s hobbies included working crosswords, cryptograms, and jumble puzzles; reading and watching true crime, biographies, and memoirs; and listening to classical, religious, and popular music. She was very happy in her final years that her assisted living facility had a piano, and she continued to play and accompany her fellow residents in singing up until only a few weeks before her death.

In addition to her parents, Irma is preceded in death by sister Patsy Petrey of Jellico; brother, Joseph Petrey of Dearborn, Michigan; sister Peggy Petrey Russell of Maryville, Indiana; sister Lula Petrey Bush of Pekin, Indiana; niece, Jennifer Bush Foster, of Salem, Indiana; and two sisters who died in infancy. 

Irma is survived by her daughter, Kasee Clifton Laster, of Statham, Georgia; her son-in-law Jonathan Laster of Statham; the absolute delights of her life, her granddaughters Georgia Ann Laster and Julia Erin Laster, of Statham; numerous nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews, and great-grand nieces and nephews; and many friends and colleagues from her teaching days.

A graveside service will take place on Monday, October 14, 2024 at Auburn City Cemetery, starting at 2:00 PM. The family will receive friends from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, West, Watkinsville prior to the service. 

Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, West, Watkinsville is in charge of arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com