RIDGELAND — Services for Rebecca Leake Brehm Gaddis, 85, of Ridgeland, who died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in Ridgeland, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home on Highland Colony Parkway in Ridgeland.

Burial will follow in Parkway Memorial Cemetery followed by a brief graveside service under the direction of Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. until service time Saturday at the funeral home.

Mrs. Gaddis was born in 1928 in Natchez the daughter of Wilbur and Mabel Leake Brehm.

She was a proud graduate of Mississippi State College for Women with a bachelor’s degree in business education.

She meet her husband, Billy Tillson Gaddis of Raleigh, Miss., while he was attending Mississippi State University. They were married in December 1950.

Billy, an Army veteran, was recalled to service at Fort Benning, Ga., where their first child, Gene Henry Gaddis was born. After Billy fulfilled his service obligation, they returned to Mississippi, where they had two other children, Rebecca Alice “Sally” Gaddis and Deborah Anne Gaddis. Their family was complete with the arrival of Rachel Brehm Gaddis while they were residents in Pearl.

Mrs. Gaddis volunteered at McLaurin Heights Elementary School in Pearl and was encouraged by first grade teacher Louise Cheney to return to school to become certified to teach elementary education. Becky attended Mississippi College and achieved a master’s degree in education. She taught for many years at Northside Elementary in Pearl.

After she retired, Billy and Becky enjoyed traveling in the States and Europe. She especially loved attending Elder Hostels, where she could satisfy her desire to learn about people, culture and history of other regions of the United States.

Five years ago, Becky had to have emergency surgery at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson. Complications led to her being placed in the intensive care unit. Miraculously, after six months on a ventilator and many health problems, she recovered with her mind intact bur her body confined to the bed.

She lived at Madison County Nursing Home for several years until she transferred first to St. Catherine’s Village of Madison and then to The Arbor in Ridgeland. Billy stayed with her everyday, until his Alzheimer’s forced him to give up driving and eventually he, too, was confined to St. Catherine’s and then The Arbor.

While Becky loved her family and her career, the true center of her life was her religion. She was christened at Trinity Episcopal Church in Natchez and was a faithful member while growing up. She was a charter member of McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl and then a faithful member of First Baptist Church in Madison.

Mrs. Gaddis read her Bible daily and embraced the study of all aspects of the life of Christ and the people of the Bible. She loved sending cards to her Sunday school class and to visitors at First Baptist and did so faithfully for many years. Her family and friends take great comfort in knowing that Becky is with the Lord she so devotedly worshiped and loved.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one brother, Wilbur Henry Brehm Jr.; and one sister, Wilma Anne Brehm.

Survivors include her loving husband of 63 years, Billy Tillson Gaddis, of The Arbor; one son, Gene Henry Gaddis of Madison; three daughters, Sally Gaddis of Meridian, Debbie Gaddis Gunter and husband, John, of Marion, Ill and Foley, Ala. and Rachel Gaddis Douglas and husband, Cullen, of Los Angeles; six grandchildren, Susan Yeske and husband, Jason, of Meridian, Trey Buntyn of Meridian, Kathryn Byars and husband, Corey, of Okinawa, Japan, Becky Sharpe and husband, William, of Clarksville, Tenn., Cameron Douglas and Gabriel Douglas, of Los Angeles; five great-grandchildren, Duo and Seth Yeske, of Meridian, Belle Byars, of Okinawa, Japan and Anna June and Mary Elise Sharpe, of Clarksville; one brother, Larry “Tom” Gaddis and wife, Johnnie Sue, of Raleigh; one sister, Nancy Janet Bell; and a number of nephews, nieces, and their spouses, great and great-great nephews and nieces and their spouses.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Madison, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village, or Youth for Christ.