Wanda Markham Gentry

Wanda Markham Gentry left this humanly earth on the 6th day of October, 2024. To know Wanda was to love her.

She was survived by her devoted Husband of 62 years, William H. Gentry, her baby brother, Thomas Eddie Markham, her son, Jonathan Markham Gentry, her daughter, Laura Leigh ‘Missy’ Gentry, her one and only granddaughter, Amanda J. Gentry, and many great-grandpups. She was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Nolin and Bessie Harris Markham, her maternal grandparents, Claud F. and Fannie Smith Dinwiddie, her parents, Thomas Harris Markham and Edith Dinwiddie Markham. She was very proud of her Franklin-Simpson County roots and her connections to the Smith, Harris and Dinwiddie families.

She was a collector of all things, all of her life. She loved her farmhouse, the Randolph Gibson House, her collections of globes, pink flamingos, crocodile purses, books and music. If you pass an estate sale and don’t think about Wanda, she will remind you to stop and find a deal. She loved her family, but she was a passionately devoted loyal friend to so many through the years, through her career, her Chattanooga and East Ridge Community Hospital friends, her book clubs friends, her lifelong connections made in Executive Women International, and the Franklin-Simpson High School Class of 1957. Her first job in Jacksonville, Florida, just out of business school, she began a long career of being a secretary turned executive assistant. She was very proud of her long-time career working for Wayne T. Smith, John C. Bolinger, and finally retiring at 75 years young after 28 years working for Lee A. Beaman.

She loved to throw a good party, and she documented them all through the years with her camera. She was known for her personalized greeting cards for every occasion. Typical of Wanda, she left instructions for us to throw her a party after she was gone, and that is exactly what we will do. Friends, please join us at the Rokeby, 3901 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37205, on the 1st Floor for a Celebration of her Life on the 25th of October 2024 from 1pm to 4pm, where martinis and hor d'oeuvres will be served. 

For Friends and Family, her service will be held at Gilbert Funeral Home & Crematory, 325 West Cedar Street in Franklin, Kentucky, 42134 on Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 1:00 PM.  There will be a visitation from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.

Join us for either or both, but be sure to cheers her to a life well lived.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mount Vernon Baptist Church Cemetery where her immediate family and generations of ancestors are buried, including her parents, for the upkeep of the property. Donations can be sent to Eddie Markham at 1808 Spout Spring Road, Franklin, Kentucky 42134.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Gilbert Funeral Home & Crematory. The website is www.gilbertfhonline.com. The Facebook page is Gilbert Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc. The obituary phone line is 270-586-8844.