Thelma Atwood Tubb of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, passed away peacefully in the company of loving family at Covenant Methodist Medical Center on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at the age of 99.

Thelma was born in Brush Creek, Tennessee on May 22, 1925, one of seven children of the late Lon and Alma Smith Atwood. Growing up, she worked alongside her brothers and sisters on the family farm. Judging by the stories she would later regale her children and grandchildren with, she loved to seize opportunities for a good joke – like the time she secretly (or accidentally?...) swapped in salt for sugar in a certain recipe, much to her siblings' surprise when they ate their biscuits for lunch at school that day.

In her teen years, Thelma worked in nearby Watertown for a time before embarking on her first adventure away from home. In 1944 at the age of nineteen, she rode the Tennessee Central Train more than 100 miles from Brush Creek to Harriman. Her good friend Estellee Agee picked her up and drove her 20 miles more to the newly built town of Oak Ridge. There Thelma joined in the historic war effort as a clerk for the Tennessee Eastman Company – though she couldn't tell you that at the time, given the cloak of secrecy surrounding the work of the Manhattan Project in the "Secret City."

While in Oak Ridge, she reconnected with a friend of the family, Joe B.Tubb. When he returned home from serving in the Navy after the war, Thelma Cary Atwood married him on January 17, 1947.

Thelma and Joe raised four children together: Richard Brown Tubb, Rebecca Joi Tubb, Joe Randall Tubb, and Rita Janice Tubb. The family moved several times between towns in Kentucky and Tennessee for Joe's work with the Tennessee Valley Authority before eventually settling back in Oak Ridge.

Thelma tended to her family and home with a lot of grit and ingenuity. Her creativity and knack for arts & crafts enabled her to be self-sufficient with all kinds of projects. She liked interior painting and refurbishing old furniture. Her skills as a seamstress came in handy as she would make the children's clothes as well as her own. On a rainy day, she would pass the time ironing and sewing, but in particular Thelma enjoyed expressing her artistic spirit through crewel embroidery and needlepoint.

She was also a fabulous cook, keeping the kids fed with delicious meals. She especially liked baking cakes and pies – her signature pecan pie was a popular treat! Throughout her life she enjoyed teaching first her children and then her grandchildren their way around a kitchen, passing down the secrets for not only her pies but also her famous gravy, dressing, cornbread and other cherished recipes.

After her children were grown, Thelma wasn't ready to slow down for the empty-nest years. Instead, she went back to school at Roane State Community College, earning an Associate's Degree in Business.

A sharp woman with a quick wit, Thelma was a captivating storyteller with an impressive ability to recount countless (and usually humorous!) stories of her life to her family and friends, as if they'd just happened yesterday. At the same time, she was a good listener with a genuine interest in others' lives, leading to many memorable conversations that will be cherished long after her passing.

As Mu or Grandma, Thelma built special connections with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren through the humor and words of wisdom she shared in numerous heartfelt conversations and letters over the years.

Thelma was truly a multi-talented woman with great love for her family and friends. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, sister and true friend, and we are grateful that her love, humor, and stories will always be with us. She will dearly be missed and forever loved by all who have known her.

Thelma was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Joe B. Tubb; her daughter Rebecca Rickard; grandson Joshua Patterson; her sisters, Ruth Agee and Margie Floyd; and her brothers, Lonnie Atwood and Robert Atwood.

She is survived by three children, Richard B.Tubb of Philadelphia, PA, Joe Randall Tubb (Marilyn Duncan) of Wartburg, TN, and Jan T. Roberson (Tom Roberson) of Asheville, NC; as well as her grandchildren Dr. Erev Tubb (Dr. Zofie Tubb), Florine Valerie T. Hamilton (Robert Hamilton), Bradley Patterson (Diana Patterson), Alan Rickard (Molly Rickard), and Erin Rickard (Christopher Wolf); seven great-grandchildren; her sisters Lucille Lewis of Alexandria and Jodean Vantrease of Gallatin; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 27, 2025 at Hunter Funeral Home with Rev. Tim Diffenderfer officiating. Visitation will be from Noon till service time on Sunday. Internment will follow at Hillview Cemetery in Alexandria.