Edna Sims Yekalis

Mrs. Edna Sims Yekalis passed away on Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at the Bailey Family Center Community Hospice in St. Augustine, Florida. She was born to W.F. (Love) Sims (deceased) and Flora Belle(Morgan) Sims (deceased) on January 31, 1924 in Ousley, Georgia. Edna was predeceased by her husband, Stanley E. Yekalis, Sr., sons, Michael Alex Yekalis and Andrew Sims Yekalis, sister, Imogene Sims Clifton, brothers, William Fender Sims, Jr. and Gordon Andrew Sims. She is survived by her son and daughter in law, Stanley E. Jr. and Donna Yekalis of St. Augustine, FL, grandchildren, Casey Yekalis, Benjamin Yekalis, Anastasia Yekalis, and eleven great-grandchildren, sister, Ruth Sims Wheaton and numerous nieces and nephews.
Edna had a wonderful and long life, first growing up on a farm in Ousley, GA before the family later moved to Valdosta, Georgia. She graduated from Valdosta High School and then attended Habersham College in Clarksville, Georgia at a time when many students began to leave school to enter military service at the beginning of WWII. Edna later moved to Jacksonville, Florida where she embarked on a business career prior to meeting her future husband, Stanley. She volunteered as a hostess at the USO, where she met Stanley, a NAVY gunner and later a CPO photographer. They married in 1946, and lived in Key West, FL; Charleston, SC; Panama Canal Zone, Panama; and Valdosta, GA, before settling in Jacksonville, Florida in 1955. Edna was a NAVY Wife, homemaker and mother to three sons, many times managing on her own while her husband was deployed. After her husband retired from the NAVY, Edna helped him establish and run his photography business for more than 20 years. She cared for her husband while he battled cancer, and also her brother, Gordon. Edna also travelled to The Holy Land twice and to Greece. Edna was a kind and giving woman who was beloved by her family and will be missed by many who remain in this world, however the family is assured that the joy of Edna's arriving in heaven was an awesome and happy day on those fair shores.
The family wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude to the excellent and compassionate staff at the Bailey Family Center Community Hospice in St. Augustine who cared for Edna and showed such support to the family during Edna's last days.
Funeral services will be held at 10am, Friday, January 18, 2013 in the chapel of Carson McLane Funeral Home with burial to follow in the Ousley Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Thursday, January 17, 2013 from 5 until 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanecares.com. Carson McLane Funeral Home.



Funeral Home:
Carson McLane Funeral Home
2215 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA
US 31602