Emma Rhodes Gresham (1925 - 2018)

                                              Mayor Emma Rhodes Gresham, 92, entered into rest on Friday, March                                                 2, 2018. She was the second Black woman to be elected mayor in                                                         Georgia and led the reactivation of Keysville, GA - "a place that time                                                    had forgotten" in 1985. During her tenure of 20 years, Mayor Gresham                                                provided leadership to secure federal, state, and county funding for                                                    infrastructure, buildings, and community services. In May 2014, a                                                        portion of State Route 88 which runs through the City of Keysville and                                                Burke County, was officially named the Mayor Emma Gresham                                                              Highway. She received hundreds of awards for her volunteer public                                                    service and servanthood from local, state, and national organizations.                                              

Mayor Gresham was also a veteran educator in the Augusta Richmond  County, GA School system and a third-generation member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She and her late husband, Quinten G. Gresham, were the parents of five children: the Rev. Dr. Quinten (Carolyn) Gresham Jr. , the Rev. Ida LaVerne (Charles) Comer, the Rev. Lola Scott (Gresham) Russell, Harold (Charmaine) Gresham, Sr. and Dr. Kay Gresham. She also leaves 14 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren, and more than 100 nieces, nephews, cousins, a special daughter State Representative Gloria (Wayne) Frazier, and a city whose residents were always near her heart.

Her celebration of life services will begin on Friday, March 9, 2018 at Bethel AME Church, with a visitation from 6 to 8 p.m. At this service there will be a public viewing and an opportunity to share memories and tributes. The official service will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 11 a.m. at Paine College's Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial Chapel. Following the services in Augusta, her final parade through Keysville will take place and she will lie in state at Mt. Tabor AME Church from 3 to 4 p.m. before interment in the church cemetery.

Remembering Mayor Emma Gresham

Guess Book

Final Class Reunion

EMMA GRESHAM GOING HOME CELEBRATION

Founder of the Diva's

2000 Essence Award

C-Span- Drinking Water

More Photo's               

Founder of the Diva's

January 27th, 2018 The Ribbon Cutting of the Emma Gresham African American Research Library

4729 Quaker Rd. Keysville, Ga.

30816

(706) 592-8354 

It's so hard to say Good-Bye to Yesterday