Thelma June McCracken Holsey, 79, of Holden, Mo., died Dec. 26 at St. Luke’s East Hospital in Lee’s Summit, Mo., surrounded by her family.
The family will receive friends from 2 p.m. until funeral time at 3 p.m. Saturday at Ben Cast & Son – Wood Funeral Home in Holden. Burial will be in Pittsville Cemetery.
Services will be officiated by Pastor Rod Albert. Musicians will be Helen Kinney, accompanist, and Gary Hackett and Jolan Smith, vocalists. Pallbearers will be Denny C. Holsey, Dennis Taylor, Luke Holsey, Jacob Holsey, Russell Sechrest, and Chris Sampson. Honorary Pallbearers are Angie Holsey Dempsey, Jennifer Holsey, Melodie Holsey Taylor, Holly Holsey, Jason Holsey, Casie Brisbin, and Coleena Lopez.
Thelma was born in Grenada, Colo., on June 6, 1933 to Nelson David and Velma Ann (Hinshaw) McCracken the youngest of six children. She attended school in Augusta, Kan., before moving to Holden with her family in 1946. She graduated from Holden High School in 1951 and from the University of Central Missouri in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in education. She began her teaching career in Holden and later taught home economics at Kingsville High School and retired in the late 1980s.
Thelma married James Carroll “J.C.” Holsey on July 13, 1956 in Warrensburg. There were three children born of their marriage, Dennis C., James R., and Janet J.  J.C. died two days after the birth of their third child on April 29, 1965.
Thelma was an active, longtime member of the Holden Baptist Temple. She donated land for the church to be built at the northern edge of Holden. She was also a longstanding board member and treasurer of the Pittsville Cemetery Association. She liked gardening, sewing, cooking, garage sales and chocolate. She loved her grandchildren and family, and was a great mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt.
She was preceded in death by her husband, both parents, two brothers, Preston  and Emmett McCracken, and one sister, Gladys Bollinger.
She is survived by twos sons, Dennis C. Holsey and wife, Lark, of Holden, and James R. Holsey and wife, Patti, of Bates City, Mo.; one daughter, Janet J. Holsey Lopez and husband, Ed, of Harrisonville, Mo.; 12 grandchildren, Angie Holsey Dempsey, Nicole McGee, Jennifer Holsey, Melodee Holsey Taylor, Jason Holsey, Jennifer Carney, Casie Brisbin, Holly Holsey, Jacob Holsey, Coleena Lopez, Luke Holsey, and Denny L. Holsey; 26 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Lucille Cook, of Satasota, Fla., and Alice Hobson, of Atwater, Calif.