Athlene Moore Spradling, born March 12, 1931, went home to heaven on March 14, 2011. She was born in Cullman, the second of eight children of a sharecropper, Hershel Moore and Sudie Bell Gibbs Moore. After serving in the Army (WAC) during the Korean War, she returned to school at Saint Bernard’s College in Cullman, where she was the first female to attend the college and graduated valedictorian of her class. She was a 50-plus year member of the Mt. Olive First Baptist Church, where she started their first Girls Auxiliary, Royal Ambassadors and Boy Scouts and worked as a teacher in the children’s departments, youth departments and vacation bible schools. In addition, she was a talented seamstress, and won awards for her cross-stitching.

She retired from Gardendale High School after 20 years in the school’s office and counselor’s office and most of “her” students called her Grandma.

She was preceded in death by her parents and one daughter, Faye Athlene Rawding.

She was survived by her husband, Maxie Spradling; six children, Diane Weber (Tom), Carol Stewart (Larry), Kathy Davis (Keith), Joyce Fields (Donnie Hill), Allen Spradling (Shelley) and Daniel Spradling (Sonya); 21 grandchildren including John Partain (Dana), Matthew Weber (Shanna), Michael Partain (Amber), Cameron Stewart (Jennifer), Lisa Weber, Mikey Sanderson, Lela Turner (Ken), Jeremy Davis, Jaime Spradling (Alyson), Lauren Weber, Joshua Davis, Tim Sanderson, Austin Spradling, Ben Spradling, Sam Davis, Nick Spradling, Meredith Spradling, Jason Trost, Abby Spradling, Lathan Miller and Ariel Foster; and 12 great-grandchildren including Owen Weber, Hudson Weber, Sarah Partain, Landen Stewart, Lauren Stewart, Ainslie Partain, Tylden Turner, Sydney Turner, Kate-Lynn Spradling, Gage Spradling, Kayden Woods and Parker Miller.

Services were held at the Mt. Olive First Baptist Church at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 16, 2011.

The family requests, in lieu of flowers, donations made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in memory of our mother and in honor of her great-granddaughter (Sarah) who was recently diagnosed with the disease. She was a much loved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.