Gladys Marie Wishon McDessy

Gladys Marie Wishon McDessy, 104, passed away on December 7, 2017, at KBR Hospice Home in Winston-Salem. She was born in Yadkin County on March 15, 1913, to William Edward and Fanny Etta Warden Wishon.  When she was a few months old, the family moved to Mitchell County, Iowa, where she and her brother grew up.  She graduated from Orchard High School in 1930 and Hamilton School of Commerce the following year.  The family returned to North Carolina on the late 1930s, and Gladys worked for an attorney in Yadkinville, before moving to Raleigh, and then later to Ft. Bragg, where she worked as the administrative assistant to the hospital administrator at Womack Army Hospital for 17 years.  She then worked three years at Cumberland County Department of Social Services. Gladys met MSgt. George McDessy at Ft. Bragg, and they married at the base chapel on September 10, 1945, and they lived on base before moving to Chicago, where Gladys worked as secretary at a department store.  After a short time there, the couple settled down in Fayetteville, NC.  After Mac’s death in January of 1979 she moved to Yadkinville for one year and then to Winston-Salem.  She worked as a docent at Old Salem, volunteered at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and was a faithful member of Highland Presbyterian Church. Gladys was a great dancer, a painter, a reader, and a traveler.  She was a generous aunt to her niece and nephew. Gladys was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brother Clyde and his wife Helen Wishon.  She is survived by her niece, Rev. Lisa Wishon, of Winston-Salem, and her nephew, Tracy Wishon, and his wife Kathy Peoples Wishon, of Yadkinville. The graveside service will be held at 1:00 PM, Monday, December 11, 2017, at Deep Creek Friends Meeting cemetery, 1140 Deep Creek Church Road, Yadkinville by Rev. Lisa Wishon. Memorials to the charity of the donor’s choice will be appreciated.  Acknowledgement may be sent to the Wishons at PO Box 1001, Yadkinville, NC 27055. The family is grateful to the staff and residents at Forsyth Court, where Gladys resided for 18 years, to the staff at Mallard Ridge Assisted Living Facility, and to the staff at Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem. She was a longtime patient of Dr. Franklin Millman, and the family appreciates his care of her. Gentry Family Funeral Service in Yadkinville is serving the McDessy family.  Online condolences may be made at www.gentryfuneralservice.com.