Sylvia Brantley Kersey, MSN, retired pastor, nursing administrator, and nursing faculty, fan of mass quantities of coffee, children and animals and true, loving husband, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother died on Sunday, November 13, 2022. She loved her family, her community, and every dog that she ever met.
Sylvia was born on July 29, 1940, in Jacksonville, Florida. Soon afterward her mother and father moved to Dublin, Georgia where she grew up and graduated from Dublin High School in 1957. She graduated from Middle Georgia College in 1977 and began her career as a Registered Nurse. In 1984 she received her Master of Science in Adult Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia.
She spent her nursing career with the Carl Vinson Veterans Administration Medical Center, the Hospital Corporation of America, and served as Director of Nursing in several hospitals throughout the southeast and taught in clinical, classroom, and hospital settings.
Answering the call to ministry Sylvia completed the required courses of study and became a Licensed Local Pastor in the Dublin District of the South Georgia Conference in the United Methodist Church. Among the Church’s where she served as Pastor was the Church in which she grew up, Pine Hill United Methodist Church.
She is pre-deceased by her father, Taylor Harris Brantley; mother, Grace Agnes Brantley Pope; and two daughters, Melanie Grace Fordham, and Dawn Elizabeth Brantley.
She is survived by her husband, John E. Kersey; sons Michael B. Fordham (Melissa), John E. Fordham, Kenneth C. Fordham (Kay), John N. Kersey, Chan A. Kersey, and Grahm M. Kersey and daughter Taylor S. Kersey. Sylvia is also survived by five grandchildren, Jenniffer Leigh Kersey, William Michael Justice Fordham, Brandy McDaniel, Amber Mills, Kendall Lampp, and seven great grandchildren.
Visitation is at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at Pine Hill Church, 2242 U.S. Highway 441, Dublin, GA with services following at 11:00 a.m. with the Rev. Tommy Veal officiating. Interment will follow in the Pine Hill Church Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Chuck Shepard, Steve Shepard, Scott Gaillard, Jim Brown, Nick Dacus, and Mike Veal.
The family wishes to acknowledge the excellent love, care, and devotion provided to Sylvia by the Staff of Agape Hospice of Dublin. Joyce Mickle, Leigh Thigpen, and Michelle Davis proved to be excellent representatives and caregivers who went beyond the family’s expectations of care. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Sylvia's remembrance to Pine Hill Church, another Church of choice, or The Serenity Foundation, 1111 Hillcrest Parkway, Dublin, GA 31021. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.stanleyfuneralhome.com
Stanley Funeral Home and Crematory/Dublin Chapel is in charge of the funeral arrangements.