Gennie Lynn Williams Wallace

Gennie Lynn Williams Wallace, 75, of Irmo/Cheraw, SC, went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on August 8, 2023, at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, SC, after a courageous battle with brain and lung cancer for 17 months. She initially had cancer when she was 18, but after surgery, she was a cancer survivor for 55 years before these recent cancers were first diagnosed as Stage IV on March 6, 2022.

Funeral services will be 4:00 PM Saturday, August 12, 2023 from the Chapel of Miller-Rivers-Caulder Funeral Home by the Reverends Donald Wallace, Sr., David Wilks, Chris Hall, and Brent Taylor with burial to follow in the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will greet friends from 2:00 – 4:00 PM Saturday, prior to the service at the funeral home and other times at the home, 2608 Wire 1 Road, Cheraw, SC.

Gennie, known affectionately as "Meme" by her precious grandchildren and many others, was born in Chesterfield County on August 6, 1948, the fourth child of the late Jimmie E. Williams and the late Ella Jane Crowley Williams. She received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior in 1964, was baptized, and became a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Cheraw, SC. She and her husband Dennis later joined Southside Baptist Church in Greenville, SC and then Harbor Baptist Church in West Columbia, SC. She, along with her family, were charter members of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. She later re-joined Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Cheraw, SC when her husband Dennis was called to be their pastor in 2000.

Gennie completed high school at the Irmo Career Center, along with taking several additional courses offered by the career center. She loved children and helped raise many of them while working at, and sometimes managing, daycare centers at churches and in her home. She later served as a substitute teacher for Lexington County District 5 schools. Young people were attracted to her, because she was down-to-earth and enjoyed having fun with them. She initially went to work to help Dennis while he attended college at CIU. She was a faithful pastor's wife and helped Dennis in his ministry in any way that she could.

She was an active member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church where she had served as Vacation Bible School Director for several years, a member of the Fellowship Committee and was willing to help wherever she was needed.

She loved to shop and was noted for her ability to find quality merchandise for the lowest price. She was known for her delicious chicken and dumplings and pecan "chews". She enjoyed her pig collectibles, Christmas village collection and crocheting baby blankets for many newborns. She loved the beach and enjoyed riding her golf cart through Ocean Lakes Campground where her family had a beach home for 30 years. She had a lovely smile and was a true, loving friend to many, and treasured their friendships.

Gennie dearly loved her family and was preceded in death by her parents, Jimmie E. Williams and Ella Jane Crowley Williams; a son, John David Wallace; a brother, James W. (Dub) Williams and a sister, Betty Jo Williams Owensby.

She is survived by her loving husband of 58 ½ years William Dennis Wallace; their sons, Billy (Crystal) Wallace of Lexington, SC, and Nathan (Anne) Wallace of Cheraw, SC.; 5 grandchildren, Tyler Wallace of Cheraw, SC, Jeremy Wallace of Columbia, SC, Trent Wallace of Lexington, SC, Emily Wallace of Cheraw, SC, and Olivia Wallace of Cheraw, SC; sisters, Carolyn Williams Boone of Patrick/Effingham, SC, and Bonnie Williams Moore of Ruby SC; brother-in-law,  Rev. Donald (Mary) Wallace of Chesterfield, SC; sisters-in-law, Sue (Billy) Driggers of Effingham, SC, and Jeanette (Andy) Linton of Cheraw, SC; granddaughter, Ashley (McKenzie) Huggins of Hartsville, SC; step great granddaughters, Destiny Johnson, Rylie Huggins and Lily Huggins of Hartsville, SC; several nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family wishes to thank the staffs of the Lexington Medical Center Oncology and Oncology Radiation departments for their treatments that helped extend Gennie's life for several months, her oncologist Jennifer Peagler and the LMC 9th Floor North nurses that ministered to her during the last week of her life. Memorials may be made to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, c/o Arlene Hancock, 1680 Sam Jones Rd, Patrick, SC 29584.

Miller-Rivers-Caulder Funeral Home (www.mrcfuneralhome.com) of Chesterfield, SC is serving the Wallace family.