It is with both great sadness and great joy that we announce the death of Ida May Guthrie, a wonderful wife, mom, grandmother, sister, friend, encourager, and support for numerous friends and family members. She died peacefully on November 25, 2024. Ida was ninety-two years old.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, she, her parents, Al and Ethel Ryland, and her siblings, Tommie and Porter, eventually settled in Dyersburg, Tennessee in the mid-1940s. Ida graduated from Dyersburg High School in 1949 and then traveled by train to Virginia to attend the Mary Baldwin all-girls school in 1949-1950. From 1950 to 1953 she attended the University of Arkansas, where she was a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority. She graduated with a BA in English, a good match for her love of literature and reading, a love that she maintained until the final weeks of her life on earth.

Upon moving back to Dyersburg later in 1953, Ida worked briefly as a bank teller before taking up a job as secretary at Dyersburg High School, where she met a tall, handsome, winsome, basketball coach named Howard, whom she married at the home of her parents on August 7, 1955. They adored each other and grew into a loving, long-lasting relationship built on mutual admiration, deep affection, and a common commitment to Christ and his Church. They were the best of parents, raising three boys, George, David, and Al, with a lot of laughter, wisdom, and ready guidance on how to navigate life. Ida brought intelligence, order, rhythm, and beauty to the lives of her family members.

Ida taught English Literature to a wide variety of students in West Tennessee, holding teaching positions in Tiptonville, Somerville, and Dyersburg, her career spanning three decades. She was greatly loved and respected by her students. Through the years she was a member of the Good Earth Garden Club, a natural fit for her love of gardening, which she inherited from her Grandmother Carnahan and her father. She was especially passionate about her roses, which she shared generously with others.

Ida was an amazingly faithful friend. Her commitment to those in her sewing circle, a group of almost thirty women in Dyersburg, lasted for nearly seventy years. In the final years of her life, Ida so looked forward to her bridge group every Wednesday. She loved her friends, and they loved her.

A faithful church-goer all of her adult life, Ida taught and provided leadership for her Sunday School class and the Sonshine life group for many, many years. After retirement from teaching, she spent time almost every morning, in her big walk-in closet, studying for her Sunday School lesson and praying for people. Ida visited people regularly at the nursing homes, gave meals and encouragement to those in distress and grieving. Her life was characterized by consistent commitment to things and people she held dear. She will be greatly missed.

She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Porter and Joan Ryland, her three sons, George, David, and Al, and their wives, Pat, Kim, and Penny, her nine grandchildren, Joshua, Anna, Rebecca, Catherine, Ryland, Erin, Mackenzie, Sara Jo, and Kody, and her twelve great-grandchildren, with two on the way.

A funeral service will be held at First Baptist Church of Dyersburg (220 Masonic Street) on Friday, November 29 at noon, conducted by Reverend Mike Hickman and Dr. George Guthrie. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. and interment will be after the service in Fairview Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in Ida's name to the Legacy Fund at First Baptist Church, or McIver's Grant Public Library. Dyersburg Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.