Faye S Easterling
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Faye Easterling, 77, a resident of Gadsden Alabama since 1964, succumbed to Covid-19 on the morning of July 18, 2020. She was born Faye Smith in October 10, 1942 in Jemison Alabama to the late Richard Henry and Hazel Smith. Her sisters Carol, Linda, and Teresa, and her brother Mardie grew up on Smith Road. She played basketball for Jemison HS, graduating in 1961. She met her future husband Royce Easterling of Clanton Alabama soon after graduating and while she was working in Birmingham. The two of them eloped in 1964, driving to Elba Alabama to be married. They built their first and only house in Gadsden in 1965 while expecting a son. Five years later, a daughter came along. Faye loved being a fulltime wife and mother, and she devoted herself to family, church, and Eastern Star, making sure her kids went “down home” to see their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins often. She let her kids have strawberry pie for dinner once or twice, and her yard was always the one where the kids gathered to play until dark, and neighbors came to play Rook. When the kids started school, she went back to work part time in sales, and 25 years later when she’d learned the name of everyone in town, proudly retired from Food World grocery. Faye was generous, loved deeply, laughed loudly, and was a fierce advocate for her family, never letting them forget that she always had their back. After her 14-year battle with vascular dementia, Faye is survived by her loving husband Royce Easterling (Gadsden), son Keith Easterling (Atlanta), daughter Stacey Smith and grandson Karsten Smith (Springville), as well as her sister Teresa Smith (Jemison) and brother Mardie Smith (Jemison), and many nieces and nephews.