CHS Class of 1932

Rosa M. Funderburk
October 24, 1904 - February 18, 2009

Mrs. Rosa M. Funderburk, 104 of Nashville, formerly of Huntingdon, passed away Wednesday, February 18, at Lakeshore The Meadows in Nashville. Funeral services were conducted on Monday, February 23, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Chase Funeral Home. Interment followed in the Trezevant Cemetery. Bro. Fred Ward officiated the service. Pallbearers who served were Billy Tines, Mike McCartey, Dr. Jerry Atkins, Dr. Scott Portis, Dale Kelley, and William Lee Smothers.

Mrs. Funderburk was born October 24, 1904, in Trezevant to the late Bennett Hillsman and Lillian L. (Love) Hillsman. She was a homemaker and a member of the First Baptist Church in Huntingdon. she was preceeded in death by her husband, Graham S. Funderburk, two sisters, Maureen Burns, Martha Goodwin and one brother, Bennett Hillsman. She is survived by one daughter; Betty Robinson of Tulsa, Oklahoma; one son, Graham Funderburk of Nashville and one newphew, Dr. John Lee Hillsman. She also leaves four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

*** IN MEMORIAM ROSA FUNDERBURK 1904-2009 Rosa Hillsman Funderburk died February 18, 2009. She was 104 years old, one of the last of her era. Born in 1904 in a time when America was at peace and before the “information age” bombarded us with too many facts and our streets were filled with crime. She was a member of a generation that believed in the simple values of honor and truth, in God and country and family – and this is black and white – never gray! She was the last of her family of two sisters and one brother; hence she had become the family matriarch to two children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, two nieces and their families, and two nephews.

She often recalled her happy childhood with parents Ben and Lillian Hillsman in Trezevant. According to her, growing up at this time in a small town was golden. Trezevant was larger then and the hub of much activity. The friends she made in Trezevant High School were friends for life, as were many of the friends she made at Tennessee College, where she graduated in 1924. One of those high school friends was Graham Funderburk. Theirs was truly a once-in-a-life-time love since childhood, and they romantically eloped in 1931, after “keeping company” for three years in Bruceton, where she taught English at Central High School and he worked in the bank.

Even though this was the beginning of the depression and they had no money, only debt, they were very much in love and “too young to be afraid.” It was a time of hard work and struggle trying to keep the bank open and make ends meet in their personal budget. She continued to teach until a year before Betty was born in 1933. Graham Jr. was born in 1936, and she taught English and Latin again at Central High School from 1947 to 1956. In 1954 the family moved to Huntingdon, where Graham had bought the Bank of Huntingdon. There she was a member of the First Baptist Church and taught Sunday school for many years. She was also a member of the Book Lover’s Club and Women’s Club. The next years brought marriage, children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, and she was a grandmother to beat all grandmothers! She always believed in and was fiercely loyal to each grandchild, admonished them all when she though they needed it and always kept up with their activities, interests, and their friends. She called them and corresponded with them, prodded them when she deemed it necessary – and she became a great presence in their lives, and they loved her very much. In 1986 her beloved Graham passed away after many years of heart breaking illness. After his death she still kept busy and active. Her health and energy were always more like that of someone 20 years younger. She never let loneliness get the best of her, for she had a buoyant spirit and remained always an optimist and a committed Christian. Even though over a century old, she kept up with events and trends in the world. She was, simply, an amazing person. She thought she had lived a wonderful, charmed life, especially the younger years, which she always felt were lived at a time when life seemed to be simpler and hope remained a strong trait in the American Character. Perhaps she knew she had outlived her era and was ready to join her Graham and the parents, sisters, and friends she loved so well. Perhaps she felt like her beloved Wordsworth when he wrote: “There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream The earth and every common sight, To me did seem Appareled in celestial light The glory and freshness of a dream It is not now as it has been of yore – Turn where so ‘ere I may, By night or day The things I have seen I now can see no more.” We shall all miss her greatly!