She graduated from Red Bay High School in 1950 at the age of 17, moving to Nashville, Tennessee the day after and lived with her aunt and uncle, Virgie and Charlie Jones. She completed a course at the Nashville School of Comptometry and began work at the H.G. Hills Store in the office. Orlene was enamored, with Gospel music, and knew some of the Gospel and Country artists of the 1950s Nashville music scene. She could have easily had a career, as a singer, with a beautiful versatile voice, singing soprano, alto, or tenor. She occasionally sang with the Speer and Carter families and attended the Grand Ole Opry Friday night rehearsals. Orlene and her cousins enjoyed traveling, usually to gospel singings each weekend. She met Frank M. Mims Sr. when both lived in Nashville and were married January 6, 1961. They relocated to Humphreys County, where Frank Sr. managed the family farm and grew crops in “Big Bottom” in the community of Hustburg on the Tennessee River, and Orlene worked at Acme Boot in Waverly, TN. On October 8, 1961, the couple welcomed their first child, Laurene, into the world. On December 28, 1966, they welcomed a second daughter, Ethel. The family farm in Hustburg was sold, and in the Summer of 1969 the family made the move, to Dickson, Tennessee. On March 29, 1971, Orlene gave birth to a son, Frank Mitchell Mims, Jr. A miscarriage in 1976 of a second son, which would have been named Johnny, caused great sadness to Orlene and the whole family.
Orlene spent many years working in the office of major retailers of H.G. Hills, Sears, Big K, and lastly K-mart from which she retired in 1996. She enjoyed a brief stint as a temporary employee at The United Methodist Publishing House in 2014 as a contract scanner.
Orlene was an excellent cook and began baking cakes at only 5 years old. Her family and friends enjoyed many delicious dinners. She was a master of jelly making and crocheting, and she tried to teach her family all of those arts. She remained a lover of music, the outdoors, animals, and reading her Bible.
She was a faithful member and former Song Leader and Elder of Pond Presbyterian Church.
Orlene was always the caregiver in her family, having cared for many on both sides of the family in her home. Her family was honored to also care for her, enabling her to remain at home as she had lovingly done so for others.
Orlene was preceded in death by her parents, John and Ida Ezzell, her husband of 33 years, Frank Mitchell Mims, Sr., her brother John Orville Ezzell and his wife Dorothy, her brother James David Ezzell and his wife Betty, and her son, Frank Mitchell Mims, Jr.
She is survived by her daughter, Laurene Mims Martin (Jody), Ethel Victoria Mims (Patrick Vick), grandson, Isaiah Thomas Brazzell all of Dickson, TN; and grandson Matthew Martin and great-granddaughter, Faith Martin, both of Portland, ME; daughter-in-law Lana McCoy of Lyles; nieces Kay Putman and Renay Melton (Tommy) of Nashville, and nephew Carl Mims (Janey) of Bozeman, MT; and a host of other extended family, friends, and fur babies.
A funeral service will be held at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 24, 2024 at the Taylor Funeral Home. Interment will follow in the Ebenezer Cemetery in New Johnsonville, TN. The visitation will be held on Wednesday, October 23, 2024 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM.
The family requests that memorial gifts be made to Pond Presbyterian Church or the Dickson County Humane Society.
