Myra Callaway Folsom

Myra Edna Callaway Folsom of Villa Rica, Georgia, passed away Wednesday, November 30, 2022, at her home after a four month battle with cancer at 86 years of age. 

She was born September 21, 1936, in Bostwick, Georgia, the youngest of five children to the late Marshall Hammond and the late Lena Stovall Callaway.  She was reared in Bostwick and baptized at Gibbs Memorial Baptist Church.

She was a 1954 graduate of Morgan County High School, attended Shorter College in Rome, Georgia her freshman year, then graduated from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia in 1958.  She received her Master of Elementary Education Degree from the University of Georgia in 1974 while being a full-time mom and teacher. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Honorary Teachers Society.

She met a special “preacher boy,” Donald Lee Folsom, while they were students at Mercer. They married on Father’s Day, June 15, 1958. She served alongside Don as a wonderful pastor’s wife at Sanford Memorial Baptist in Broadnax, Virginia; Cool Springs Baptist in Tate, Georgia; First Baptist Church of Hogansville, Georgia; First Baptist Church of Jackson, Georgia; Rainbow Park, Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia.

She was a faithful Christian servant who poured her life into the work of the church including being church pianist during high school, young ladies Sunday School teacher and Bible Study leader, dedicated choir member, Vacation Bible School teacher, and also children’s Sunday School teacher the majority of the last 45 years.  She taught third grade Sunday School until March 2020 and sang in the church choir until July 2022.  She was privileged to go on her first mission trip in February 2022 to Guatamala with a group from her church, First Baptist Church of Villa Rica, and she was excited to finally be an active participant after helping fund so many others’ mission trips through the years.  

She was a devoted school teacher of first, second, and third grades for 30.5 years at Ballground Elementary, Hogansville Elementary, Jackson Primary, and in DeKalb County at Kelley Lake Elementary, Livsey Elementary, Midvale Elementary, and Indian Creek Elementary. She was a Dekalb County Teacher of the Year in 1992; then she retired in 1997 to have more time with family, especially her grandchildren, and for travel with Don and also her sisters. 

Myra was known for her sweet, beautiful, warm, endearing, constant, infectious smile and even had the nicknames: Smiling Myra, Smyra, Smiley, and Sweet Myra. Her laughter was contagious, and she always enjoyed sweet fellowship with family and friends. 

She is preceded in death by her husband of 47 years, Donald Lee Folsom; father, Marshall Hammond Callaway; mother, Lena Stovall Callaway; brother and sister-in-law, Marshall and Jean Callaway; sister and brother-in-law, Martha Jo and Robin Paxson; brother-in-law, Thomas Ruark; sister and brothers-in-law, Allie Webb Kilpatrick Hill, Ebb Kilpatrick, and Charles Hill; and daughter-in-law, Glenda Long Folsom.

She is survived by her children: Merrill and Nannette Parr Folsom of Villa Rica, Georgia; Alan and Paula Chapman Folsom of Dallas, Georgia; Scott Folsom of Lakeland, Florida; Andrea and Johnathan Gray of Dacula, Georgia; her thirteen grandchildren: Luke (Jacqueline) Folsom, Kelly (Andrew) Snow, Susannah Folsom, Curtis (Morgan) Folsom, Abbey Folsom, Caroline Folsom, Myra Ashley (Levi) Woodard, Hammond Folsom, Emilyn Gray, Lucy Folsom, Ellie Gray, Parr Folsom, Landon Gray; her four great grandchildren: Isaiah, Judah, Naomi, and Eli Callaway Folsom; her sister: Wynelle Callaway Ruark of Bostwick, Georgia; her sisters-in-law: Carolyn (Bradley) Brown of Marietta, Georgia; Annette (Jerry) Tedder of Fayetteville, Georgia; Eleanor Koon of Fayetteville, Georgia; Janice Folsom of Fayetteville, Georgia; and many nieces and nephews.

Her celebration of life service will be conducted Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Villa Rica, Georgia.  She will lie in state at the church from 12:00 p.m. until the service hour.  Internment will be Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. at Bostwick Memorial Cemetery in Bostwick, Georgia .

The family will receive friends at Jones-Wynn Funeral Home in Villa Rica on Friday, December 16, 2022, from 5:00-8:00 p.m.

Those desiring to do so may make donations in memory of Myra Callaway Folsom to the Don and Myra Folsom Memorial Scholarship Fund for Truett McConnell University through the Georgia Baptist Foundation, 3237 Satellite Boulevard, Suite 150, Duluth, GA  30096, gbfunds.org/folsom ; or to the International Mission Board Lottie Moon Offering, imb.org.

Messages of condolences may be sent to www.Jones-Wynn.com. Jones-Wynn Funeral Home of Villa Rica 770-459-3694.