Willene Varnadoe

Funeral services for Willene Baxley Varnadoe 93, formerly of Salley, SC will be held at three-thirty p.m., Sunday, October 2, 2022 at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 113 Tabernacle Rd., Springfield, SC 29146 with the Reverend Henry Cooper officiating. The family will receive friends from two-thirty p.m. until the time of the service at the church on Sunday. Memorial contributions may be given to Tabernacle Baptist Church, c/o Ronnie Gunter, 1488 Salley Rd., Salley, SC 29137 or to the Alzheimer’s Association, 3223 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100, West Columbia, SC 29169. Mrs. Willene passed away on Sunday, September 25, 2022.

Born in Marion, SC she was a daughter of the late Wilbur Rupert Baxley and Lurlene Williams Baxley and was married to the late Aaron M. “Mac” Varnadoe, Sr. At 16 years old, she was Valedictorian of the 1945 graduating class of Salley High School and received her undergraduate degree from Columbia Community College in 1947.  Mrs. Willene worked at Edisto Motor Sales in Orangeburg, at Riegel Textile Wagener Manufacturing Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, SC Health Care Association, and Internal Revenue Service. She later worked at the Bureau of Laboratories, then retired from DHEC, and volunteered for the Republican Party for over 15 years. She was a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church where she was the church secretary and taught Sunday School and was a Vacation Bible School teacher.

Survivors include her daughters Susan  (Roy) Barnes of Leesville, SC and Janice (Mark) Phipps of Ocala, FL; sons Aaron M. “Ronny” (Melinda) Varnadoe Jr. of Fernandina Beach, FL and Carroll Baxley (Irene) Varnadoe of Glendale, AZ; grandchildren Christy (Joey) Reeves, Stephen (Tiffany) Varnadoe, Shawn Hutchins, Jennifer (Justin) Silver, Jason (Nicholl) Varnadoe, Brianna (Michael)  Grossman, Clayton (Shereen) Varnadoe, Alainna Charette, Eric Clamp, Brandon (Dedra) Gillian, Travis Barnes, Eric Barnes and Deidre Barnes; 24 great-grandchildren; 5 great-great grandchildren, and a sister Virginia Faust of Aiken, SC.  She was preceded in death by her sisters Amelia (Ernest) Salley and Celia (Jim) Landford, and a brother Wilbur R Baxley Jr.

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