Thomas Stanley

Thomas Murphy Stanley, Sr., 97, died February 8, 2014 in Ocala, Florida. He was born in Union City, Tennessee on November 10, 1916 to Odie C. and Kate Olive. He proudly served in the Air Force during World War II, Korea and Vietnam and retired as a Senior Master Sergeant in 1966. He then worked in Quality Control for the Bendix Corporation at the Kennedy Space Center overseeing the crawler that moved the rockets to the launch pad. He was at the Space Center on July 16, 1969 when Apollo 11 was launched to the moon. He retired from Bendix in 1978. He and his wife, Ann, moved to Dover in January of 1980 where they built a home on Pleasant Hill Road. He was a member of Big Rock Baptist Church. Mr. Stanley was preceded in death by his wife , the former Anna Callis. He is survived by his children Sharon Maynard (Andy) of Ocala, Florida, Susan Heina of Dover, and Thomas Stanley, Jr. of Sevierville, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Mary Sue Parkinson, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, his loving friend and dancing partner Jean Steeples of Bumpus Mills, and hundreds of others with whom he loved, laughed and shared life’s blessings.
Visitation will be Wednesday, February 12, 2014 from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. Also Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until the start of the celebration of his life at 11:00 at Anglin Funeral Home with Rev. David Whitehead officiating. Interment to follow at the Stanley Family Cemetery adjacent to Stanley Methodist Chapel in Union City.