Shelby Allen Thomley

Shelby Allen Thomley, 81 passed away on Sunday March 12, 2017 at East Alabama Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held 2pm Thursday, March 16, 2017 in Sunset Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in Memory Hill Cemetery with Robert Byrd directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1pm-2pm on Thursday.

He was born May 13, 1935 in Houston County, Alabama to the late Allen Oliver and Sallie Lue Thomley. Having recently moved to Opelika, he was a long-time resident of Dothan and was a member of Pilgrim’s Home Baptist Church.

Shelby was an aircraft mechanic for 37 years as an independent contractor at Fort Rucker, Al. He was a Master Gardener and a Consulting Rosarian. He and his wife were members of the Wiregrass Rose Society. They helped establish the rose garden at the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens. Their own yard was highlighted on a couple of the Botanical Garden Spring tours. Shelby and Christie also started the junior master gardener program at Northside Methodist Academy. Shelby enjoyed working with soil and plants to beautify the world around him.

He was preceded in death by three sisters: Mildred Juanita Courtney, Nettie Seay and Ouyeda Draughon as well as four brothers, Aubie Thomley, Clyde Thomley, Dolphas Thomley and H.B. Thomley.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Christie Donaldson Thomley and two daughters, Sherry Thomley Buie (David) of Dothan and Melinda Thomley Johnson (Victor) of Opelika. Other survivors are his grandchildren, Christopher Buie, Victoria Buie Jacobson, Angela Buie, Joel Johnson, Shelby Johnson, and several nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests memorial contributions be sent to The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation or East Alabama Medical Center Cancer Center.