Alston,

Mrs. Ruth Pye Sharpe, age 87, of Alston, died Monday, February 23, 2014 in Summer’s Landing in Vidalia after a brief illness.  She was a lifelong resident of Toombs County, and was a member of the Alston United Methodist Church.  She worked at Belk Matthews Department Store in downtown Vidalia many years, and later worked with her husband at O’Neal Hardware in Uvalda.  She was preceded in death by her husband, Dewitt Sharpe in 2000; parents, Claude Pye and Ethel Virginia Holliman Pye; son-in-law, Melvin Etchinson; and eight siblings, Curtis Pye, Talmadge Pye, Jake Pye, Claude Pye, Mary Hudson, Gaston Pye, Edward Pye, and Willard Pye.

Mrs. Sharpe is survived by five daughters, Wanda Etchinson of Lyons, Teresa Lynn and husband Steve of Duluth, Kathy Pelkey and husband Randy of Springtown, Texas, Nan Winge and husband Johnny of Alston, and Sarah Gray and husband Ernie of Alston; two brothers, Jim Pye of Atlanta and Jack Pye of Brooklet; two sisters, Merle Wilkes of Lyons and Laura Kate Jones of Lyons; ten grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The funeral service will be held Thursday, February 26th at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Ronald V. Hall Funeral Home with Reverend Murray Ward officiating.  Burial will follow in the Sharpe Cemetery near Alston.

The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Wednesday evening from 6:00 until 8:00.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Community Health Foundation of Affinis Hospice, 1005 Boulder Drive, Gray GA 31032, or the Sharpe Cemetery Fund, P.O. Box 133, Alston GA 30412, or the Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society, P.O. Box 210, Vidalia GA 30475.

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