Tommye Jean Worley

Funeral services for Tommye Jean Worley (née Gilpin), 91, of Alto will be Saturday, September 21, 2024 at the A. Frank Smith Methodist Church in Alto at 11 AM. The family will receive visitors from 10 AM up until service time, at the church. Burial will follow the service at the Old Palestine Cemetery, near Alto. 

Mrs. Worley passed away early Saturday, September 14 in Tyler. She was born May 23, 1933 in Teague, to Bryan Rankin Gilpin and Ella Shelley Gilpin. Tommye has lived in Alto for the last 44 years after living all over the world with her husband Jim “Whistle” Worley who preceded her in death. She had graduated High School at Fairfield, before going on to Navarro Junior College, and then to Sam Houston State University, where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration. Tommye was a homemaker and raised registered Black Angus cows. 

She was also preceded in death by her parents, and her brother, Bryan Rankin Gilpin Jr. Tommye is survived by son James B. Worley Jr. of Alto; daughter Debbie Worley Childs of Lufkin; and daughter-in-law Diana Carter of Llano; as well as grandson Jonathon Boyd Childs, and his wife Chelsey, along with great-grandchildren Emerson Wayne Childs, Jonathon Easton Koe Childs, Tuff Craig and Tripp Craig. 

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, in memory of Tommye Jean Worley