Bertha Phillips Vanlandingham, age 98, passed away on the morning of April 27 at Briarcliff Health Care Center in Oak Ridge.
She was born February 8, 1916, in Pocahontas, Arkansas, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in the early 1930s, working as a baby sitter for a local doctor. In Memphis, she met and, in 1939, married her husband Alvin Otis Vanlandingham, an employee of the Illinois Central Railroad, beginning a 33-year marriage.
During the early 1940s, she began working at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company plant in Memphis, a job she held until retiring after 36 years. In 1987, Bertha moved to Knoxville to be near her two sons and her grandchildren.
She was an active home gardener, a longtime member of the Boulevard Baptist Church in Memphis, and often attended the West End Church of Christ in Knoxville with her sister Georgia England.
Bertha is predeceased by her husband, six sisters, and four brothers.
She is survived by son John Vanlandingham and his wife Robin Stone; son Michael Vanlandingham and his wife Linda; grandchildren, Margie Vanlandingham Hays (Greg), Phillip Vanlandingham, Katharine Vanlandingham, and Elizabeth Vanlandingham; great-grandchildren, Meggie Hays and Pierson Vanlandingham; and many beloved nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, at Forest Hills Cemetery Midtown, 1661 Elvis Presley Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee.
Leave a Reply