Age: 73 years
Mother of Country Music Star Patricia Yearwood.
She grew up Gwendolyn Paulk on her family's farm in Willacoochee, where she would milk the cows and work the row crops with her two brothers. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended Valdosta State and Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville with aspirations of becoming a teacher. She met Jack Yearwood at a football game on a rainy Friday night in the fall of 1959. She was teaching in Eatonton. He was a county extension agent in nearby Monticello. Someone told her he was the "most eligible bachelor in Jasper County.'' They married six months later, and Jack went to work at the Bank of Monticello. Jack called Western square dances at Rock Eagle. Gwen played the piano and sang in the church choir. When the girls came along -- Beth in 1961 and Patricia "Trisha" in 1964 -- they filled their home with music. The girls would sing duets together at school and church. Whenever the Yearwood family would travel the back roads of Middle Georgia and the radio station signals would fade through the pine trees, the four of them would take up the harmonies. After she retired from teaching, Gwen spent five years presiding over the Trisha Yearwood Fan Club, taking time to answer letters from all over the world. She prided herself on penmanship, too. After all, she taught cursive writing to a generation of local schoolchildren. She was one of the finest cooks to put on an apron this side of the stretch of Ga. 83 that now bears Trisha's name. After Jack died in 2005, Gwen co-authored two cookbooks with Beth and Trisha. "Georgia Cooking in a Oklahoma Kitchen" was released in 2008. "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood" was published last year. Gwen was most famous for her cakes. She even baked Trisha and husband Garth's wedding cake.
Obit provided by:
Lexi (#47431869)
Mother of Country Music Star Patricia Yearwood.
She grew up Gwendolyn Paulk on her family's farm in Willacoochee, where she would milk the cows and work the row crops with her two brothers. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended Valdosta State and Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville with aspirations of becoming a teacher. She met Jack Yearwood at a football game on a rainy Friday night in the fall of 1959. She was teaching in Eatonton. He was a county extension agent in nearby Monticello. Someone told her he was the "most eligible bachelor in Jasper County.'' They married six months later, and Jack went to work at the Bank of Monticello. Jack called Western square dances at Rock Eagle. Gwen played the piano and sang in the church choir. When the girls came along -- Beth in 1961 and Patricia "Trisha" in 1964 -- they filled their home with music. The girls would sing duets together at school and church. Whenever the Yearwood family would travel the back roads of Middle Georgia and the radio station signals would fade through the pine trees, the four of them would take up the harmonies. After she retired from teaching, Gwen spent five years presiding over the Trisha Yearwood Fan Club, taking time to answer letters from all over the world. She prided herself on penmanship, too. After all, she taught cursive writing to a generation of local schoolchildren. She was one of the finest cooks to put on an apron this side of the stretch of Ga. 83 that now bears Trisha's name. After Jack died in 2005, Gwen co-authored two cookbooks with Beth and Trisha. "Georgia Cooking in a Oklahoma Kitchen" was released in 2008. "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood" was published last year. Gwen was most famous for her cakes. She even baked Trisha and husband Garth's wedding cake.
Obit provided by:
Lexi (#47431869)
Age: 73 years
Mother of Country Music Star Patricia Yearwood.
She grew up Gwendolyn Paulk on her family's farm in Willacoochee, where she would milk the cows and work the row crops with her two brothers. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended Valdosta State and Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville with aspirations of becoming a teacher. She met Jack Yearwood at a football game on a rainy Friday night in the fall of 1959. She was teaching in Eatonton. He was a county extension agent in nearby Monticello. Someone told her he was the "most eligible bachelor in Jasper County.'' They married six months later, and Jack went to work at the Bank of Monticello. Jack called Western square dances at Rock Eagle. Gwen played the piano and sang in the church choir. When the girls came along -- Beth in 1961 and Patricia "Trisha" in 1964 -- they filled their home with music. The girls would sing duets together at school and church. Whenever the Yearwood family would travel the back roads of Middle Georgia and the radio station signals would fade through the pine trees, the four of them would take up the harmonies. After she retired from teaching, Gwen spent five years presiding over the Trisha Yearwood Fan Club, taking time to answer letters from all over the world. She prided herself on penmanship, too. After all, she taught cursive writing to a generation of local schoolchildren. She was one of the finest cooks to put on an apron this side of the stretch of Ga. 83 that now bears Trisha's name. After Jack died in 2005, Gwen co-authored two cookbooks with Beth and Trisha. "Georgia Cooking in a Oklahoma Kitchen" was released in 2008. "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood" was published last year. Gwen was most famous for her cakes. She even baked Trisha and husband Garth's wedding cake.
Obit provided by:
Lexi (#47431869)
Mother of Country Music Star Patricia Yearwood.
She grew up Gwendolyn Paulk on her family's farm in Willacoochee, where she would milk the cows and work the row crops with her two brothers. She was valedictorian of her high school class and attended Valdosta State and Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville with aspirations of becoming a teacher. She met Jack Yearwood at a football game on a rainy Friday night in the fall of 1959. She was teaching in Eatonton. He was a county extension agent in nearby Monticello. Someone told her he was the "most eligible bachelor in Jasper County.'' They married six months later, and Jack went to work at the Bank of Monticello. Jack called Western square dances at Rock Eagle. Gwen played the piano and sang in the church choir. When the girls came along -- Beth in 1961 and Patricia "Trisha" in 1964 -- they filled their home with music. The girls would sing duets together at school and church. Whenever the Yearwood family would travel the back roads of Middle Georgia and the radio station signals would fade through the pine trees, the four of them would take up the harmonies. After she retired from teaching, Gwen spent five years presiding over the Trisha Yearwood Fan Club, taking time to answer letters from all over the world. She prided herself on penmanship, too. After all, she taught cursive writing to a generation of local schoolchildren. She was one of the finest cooks to put on an apron this side of the stretch of Ga. 83 that now bears Trisha's name. After Jack died in 2005, Gwen co-authored two cookbooks with Beth and Trisha. "Georgia Cooking in a Oklahoma Kitchen" was released in 2008. "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood" was published last year. Gwen was most famous for her cakes. She even baked Trisha and husband Garth's wedding cake.
Obit provided by:
Lexi (#47431869)
