Mable Metcalf Reese

Mable Metcalf Reese, 82, went home to be with the Lord surrounded by loved ones on June 24, 2025.

Mable was born on February 8, 1943, to Bart and Frances Metcalf in Unicoi, Tennessee. She was the fourth child out of eight to be born. During her youth she was a part of the Singing Metcalf Family group, starred in the popular play, “Thunderland,” under the direction of Hubert Hayes, and wrote for the small local paper Sams Gap. She attended Mars Hill High, where she met her lifelong husband, Jack. Mable was a mother to four children, a grandmother to 10, and a great-grandmother to 11.

She was an avid reader of true crime and historical pieces; a lover of the whimsical Victorian Era, chocolate covered cherries, fragrant flowers, and a hot cup of coffee. She saw humor in everything, and was always around for a good laugh during darker times. One of her favorite poems was “The Spider and the Fly,” which she quoted regularly. She gave her grandchildren endearing nicknames, such as “Petunia” and “Sweet Bird,” and enjoyed lovingly teasing her great-grandchildren. Her fashion sense was mostly described as “flash and flair,” and she cherished the time spent with her sisters the most.

Mable was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Reese; her parents, Bart and Frances Metcalf; her beloved son, Christopher Allison Reese; her sisters, Jeanette King, Janice Buckner, and Reba Metcalf; her brothers, Larry and Robert Metcalf; as well as many other loved ones. She is survived by her children, Jackie Reese and wife Angela; Patricia Angel and husband David, and Eva Blankenship; sisters, Mafre Cole and Alberta Webb; grandchildren, Joshua, Elijah, Emily, Logan, Breanna, Brittany, Amanda, Sara, Victoria, and Miranda; great-grandchildren, Taylor, Lucas, Aubrey, Adrian, Waylon, Ella and Eden, Julius, Logan, Ayden, and Noah; as well as countless other cousins, nieces, and nephews. Not a day went by she did not think of her youngest son, Christopher, and in her final days she looked forward to reuniting with him.

Mable will be greatly missed by her family, and has left a void for us to fill only with the memory of her sweet laugh, her purple Crocs, and her most prized possession: her radio. In tribute to Mable, this quote from a book she was reading titled, “Of Human Bondage,” by W. Somerset Maugham. It reads, “Why d’you read then? … When I read a book, I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me… You see, it seems to me, one’s like a closed bud, and most of what one reads and does has no effect at all; but there are certain things that have a particular significance for one, and they open a petal; and the petals open one by one and at last the flower is there.”

A private graveside will be held at a later date. Groce Funeral Home on Patton Ave. is assisting the family.