Polly Stanley

Mavis Claudine “Polly” Seely Stanley age 86 of Caledonia, MS died at her home on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. She was born at home in Hamilton, Mississippi on the cold and snowy day of November 5, 1936. She always loved the snow and looked forward to any snow fall that came to Mississippi. Her parents were George Curtis Seely and Florence Irene Smith Seely. She was a 1954 graduate of Hamilton School, and after graduation, Polly began working with the Bell Telephone System as a local operator in Aberdeen, MS. She worked her way up through the BellSouth/AT&T system until she retired as an outside plant engineer and then continued working as a contract engineer. She was proud of her job and loved her coworkers.
Polly married Robert Hunter Stanley of Caledonia, MS on October 21, 1956. After Robert served a stint in the U. S. Air Force, they made their home on the Stanley farm in Caledonia and were blessed with three children, Beverly, Bobby and Pam. She and her husband were members of the Caledonia Church of Christ, and her greatest loves were God and family. Polly and Robert were married 53 years until his death, but she continued to live on the family farm until she drew her last breath.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, a brother, three sisters and a son-in-law. She is survived by two sisters, Martha Ott and Judy Guess; her second love and devoted constant companion, Bill Cagle; her children: Beverly and Earl Arndt, Bobby and Pat Stanley, and Pam Kelley; her six grandchildren: Joshua Arndt (Elizabeth), Jennifer Williams (Dylan), Sarah Caldwell (Kenny), Samantha Bradford (Matt), Jordan West, and Molly West; her four great grandchildren: Silas Caldwell, Conner Williams, Noah Caldwell, and Christopher Bradford; and other extended family and close friends.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Memorial, Gunter Peel Funeral Home & Crematory, 716 2nd Avenue North, Columbus, MS 39701. Visitation will be at 9:00 am with services to follow at 10:00 am in the chapel with Dylan Williams officiating. Interment will follow at Ross Cemetery, Center Hill Road, Hamilton, MS.
Pallbearers will be Jeremey Guess, Kenny Caldwell, Silas Caldwell, Jordan West, Matt Bradford, and Christopher Bradford. Honorary pallbearers are Conner Williams and Noah Caldwell.
The family wishes to acknowledge with special thanks her long-time caregivers, S. Lyn Rapp and Ann Lee Baker who cared for and loved her as their own family and who she loved in return; her short-term caregivers, Eileen Hunter, Lynn Plumb, and Barbara Shanklin, who gave her kind, loving, gentle care; and to her Gentiva Hospice Care Team who eased her out of this life into the next. These amazing people guided us through an arduous journey with love, kindness and compassion. May God bless each of these amazing people as they minister to others.