Bobbie Jean Colley

Bobbie Jean Colley, 100, died peacefully at her home in Oak Ridge on April 23, 2025. Born in Paducah, Kentucky, on September 28, 1924, she was the youngest of the three daughters of Clarence and Eunice Register Colley.
The family spent her early years in Paducah and Chattanooga, Tennessee, before moving to Nashville where Bobbie attended Eastland and Ross Elementary Schools, East Nashville Junior High School, and East Nashville Senior High School. In high school, Bobbie was a member of the girls' basketball team, played clarinet in the band, and was a majorette. After graduation from high school in 1942, Bobbie attended David Lipscomb College for two years. During this time, she not only worked as a secretary to the college president but also played clarinet and saxophone in an all-girls band at the Maxwell House Hotel in downtown Nashville. In 1946, Bobbie was graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a major in Spanish and minor in industrial psychology.
Bobbie moved with her parents to Oak Ridge in the 1940s. The family lived in a "flat top" while her father worked for Union Carbide and she worked for the War Assets Office, organizing and conducting sales of surplus goods. When the War Assets Office closed, Bobbie was offered a job by the Atomic Energy Commission where she began work in the Technical Information Service, Editorial Branch, as a proof reader and then as an editor.
In 1953, Bobbie and her parents bought a lot in Oak Ridge at one of the first land auctions held by the US Government and began construction on the first privately owned home in Oak Ridge. The house was featured in local newspaper articles at the time and is the home in which Bobbie lived for the remainder of her life.
During her career as an editor, Bobbie was deployed on several special assignments – first, in 1963, to Washington, D.C. for a year to help prepare the "Understanding the Atom" series for the New York World's Fair, and then in the late 1960s, back to Washington, D.C., to help prepare the AEC's annual report to the President. In the 1970s, Bobbie was named Director of Special Publications Division, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Department of Energy, in which position she worked until she retired about ten years later.
Throughout her life, Bobbie enjoyed travel and made several extended trips to Europe, a number of trips across the U.S., and more hikes up Mt. LeConte than can be remembered. In retirement, she became an avid gardener and was never happier than when outside in the sunshine. She loved her family and was everyone's favorite aunt, spoiling her nieces shamelessly. Bobbie will be remembered for her smile, her sense of humor, her good nature and easy friendship, and her keen interest in gardening. She was a 75-year member of the New York Avenue Church of Christ.
Bobbie was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters Edith Butler and Margaret Huff; and her niece Sharron Huff. She is survived by her nieces Betty Butler Ravenholt, Judy Huff Lucas, and Emily Butler Schultz; her great-nephews Matthew Butler Howell and Randall Lucas; and her great-niece Amalia Lucas. Bobbie also leaves behind her dedicated and loving caregivers Donna Carroll, Linda Edmond, and Vay Davis and her dear neighbor Lorie Gallaher.
The family will receive visitors at Weatherford Mortuary on Thursday evening, 1 May, from 5 – 7 pm. A graveside service will be held on Friday morning, 2 May, at 11 am at Oak Ridge Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that you spend time with a shut-in or make a donation to the New York Avenue Church of Christ Food Pantry.