Dorothy (Pennington) Tacket

Dorothy Tacket walked through the pearly gates and met her Saviour on July 20, 2024.Being 93 years, 10 months, and 11days at the time of her passing. She is the daughter of the late Henry Calvin and Dora Caudill Pennington. Dorothy was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Marshel Tacket, 4 sisters, Margie (Chester) Adams, Mazie(Ellis) Adams, Pearl (Charles) Noble, and Linda (Dennis) Hall. 7 brothers, Merrill (Lelah)Pennington,  Murphy (Josephine) Pennington, Baby James Pennington, Bobby (Della) Pennington, Hugh Watson(Mary)Pennington, Palmer Lee(Lola)Pennington, Billy Ray(Gwen) Pennington. She was a devoted housewife and mother of 5 children. Charlene (Ricky) Mason , Jeanette (Jimmy) Yonts both of Thornton, Lucille (John) Graves of Bristol VA., Albert Tacket of Colson, Ky and Delores (Kenneth) Holbrook of Neon Ky. 

      By all accounts of all who knew her, Dorothy was an angel on earth. She touched the heart of anyone who met her with her beautiful smile and her gentle, sweet Christlike spirit. She taught her children how to pray and how to trust Jesus,  and gave them the perfect example to aspire to. There was no hate in her heart for anyone or anything, ( except roaches and mice!) She loved gardening and always had beautiful flowers and huge vegetable gardens and with her husbands help, raising and butchering hogs, and as long as she was able, loved canning and making jams and jellies  and baking the best carrot cake and gingerbread in the world. Her fried cream-style corn was next to none and is now known in the family as ‘Mamaws Corn’.  Her daughters are still trying to duplicate it. One of her favorite hobbies was feeding her birds.Her front yard was filled with feeders and her chair was faced where she could watch them. She learned the names of each kind of bird and could point them out to you. She would even record them singing so she could listen when she wanted to. 

       Her 9 grandchildren adored her and she felt the same about them. Blake (Chasity) Mason, Joy (Jay) Price both of Thornton, Philip Marshel(Kym) Graves of Rapid City, South Dakota, Karen Beth( Jamie) Barger of Bristol VA, Lydia (Chris)Pogue of Louisville KY., Aaron Joseph (known as A.J.)Tacket of Asheboro NC,  Ashley(John) Ellis of Thomasville, NC, Kenneth Dwight Holbrook II, (known as Little Ken (Marlena)Holbrook  of Wise Va, Steven Duane (Chasity) Holbrook, of Neon Ky and one stillborn grandson, Jamie Holbrook.  She has 17 great grandchildren, Tucker and Chesnee Mason, Seth Lennon Hampton, Drew Eden Price, Story Eliza Hampton all of Thornton, Ava and Silas Barger of Bristol, VA., Andrew, J.D.,Liberty Mae Graves, of Rapid City SD,  Lauren, Luke, & Lane Holbrook all of Wise VA, Kassidy (Logan) White , Cade Ellis both of Thomasville NC, Zaniel and Canaan Holbrook of Neon Ky.  She recently became a great great grandmother to Wyatt Solomon White of Thomasville, NC. She got to meet him 3 days before she went into the Hospice Care Center.

      She loved every one of her countless nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and all their spouses, and mentioned their names often.

        Dorothy was saved and baptized at age 22. She first belonged to Marlowe Mountain Chapel, then Cowan Chapel, and lastly to Millstone Missionary Baptist Church. She was faithful until her health prevented her going. She was a big fan of Bluegrass Music all her life and loved Bill Monroe. She and her sisters Margie and Pearl actually got to meet him and have their pictures made with him, which they proudly displayed on their walls. But her greatest love was bluegrass gospel music , especially the Primitive Quartet and the McKameys. Her daughters took her to several concerts in Ky and VA to meet and hear them and they grew to love her as much as she loved them. Her extensive cassette and CD collection comforted her on a daily basis for years and in her last years she watched them on YouTube. She and her husband Marshel, sister Linda Hall, daughter Charlene Mason, and Marshel’s sister, Esther Wagner, and a lifelong friend, Ruby Combs formed an acapella group called Gospel Harmony and they sang across the county at funerals and singing events. She and Marshel instilled in all of their children the love of good gospel music that has never left them.  The Pennington and Tacket Families are a tight knit bunch, highly emotional, with a ‘family above all others’ attitude. Dorothy was no exception. She loved easily and stayed that way till the end. If you were one of her loved ones, you knew you had received a great blessing from the Lord. We will all be forever grateful for having been  favored with such a wonderful mother, grandmother, great & great great grandmother, aunt,  neighbor, or friend. 

Funeral: 2:00 O'clock P.M. Thursday, July 25, 2024 at the Millstone Missionary Baptist Church. Visitation: 12:00 Noon Thursday at the Millstone Missionary Baptist Church. Burial will follow in the Evergreen Cemetery at Whitesburg, Kentucky.