Sara Ruth Abernathy McCord Talley, formerly of Centre, Ala., died September 11, 2018 at a nursing home in Rome, Ga. at age 96.

Funeral services are at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 15 at New Bethel Baptist Church in Cherokee County Alabama with the Rev. Brett Clements and the Rev. Doyle Kerr officiating. Burial will follow at the Cherokee Memory Gardens in Centre. The family will receive visitors before the service from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in the sanctuary at New Bethel Baptist Church.

Mrs. Talley was the daughter of the late James Wright Abernathy and Mattie Aiken Abernathy. She was preceded in death by her second husband, the late George Aries Talley of Centre, to whom she was married for over 67 years.  She is survived by one son, Randall D. McCord of Silver Creek, Ga. and his spouse, two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She retired in 1983 as the proprietor of Talley’s Ladies & Children’s clothing store, which she operated in the West Main Shopping Center in Centre, Ala. for twenty-three years. During World War II she served as a civilian electrical welder in the “Rosie-the-Riveter” brigade in the Norfolk Virginia Naval Shipyards. As a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union she worked on the construction of USS Lake Champlain, USS Shangri-La, and the battleship USS Alabama.  She also worked many years in various textile and manufacturing mills in Great Barrington, Mass., Paterson N.J., Gadsden, Ala., and Cartersville, Ga.

Mrs. Talley was a longtime member of New Bethel Baptist Church in the Key Community of Cherokee County, where she was the oldest living member until her death. She was formerly active in the Centre D.A.V. Ladies Auxiliary and the American Legion.  She had a deep interest in genealogy and she enjoyed reading, cooking, gardening, bird-watching and visiting with friends and family at her home in the Whorton Community of Cherokee County, where she lived for over 52 years.

Perry Funeral Home directing