Marthena Gilbert

HOSCHTON - Marthena Pollard Gilbert, 86, died Thursday, April 15, 2010.

Born in Senoia, she was the daughter of the late William L. and Martha Cates Pollard. She left Senoia after graduating from Senoia High School and moved to Atlanta where she worked as a telephone operator for the telephone company. She met Lewis Edwin Gilbert and they were married on June 7, 1946. Together, they opened a family restaurant and eventually started a boarding house business, Gilbert’s Guest Home, located in downtown Atlanta at the corner of Peachtree Street and 7th St. They retired from the boarding house business in 1974 and moved to Jackson County in 1979. She was very involved at the Jackson County Senior Citizens Center and was a member of White Plains Baptist Church.

Mrs. Gilbert was preceded in death by her husband, Lewis E. Gilbert; brothers, Dan and Eugene Pollard; and sisters, Tommie Leigh Kinnard, Annie Bea Wilder, Maureen Benton and Betty Dekalb.

Survivors include a brother and sister-in-law, Radford “Buddy” and Joan Pollard, Fayetteville; sons and daughters-in-law, Gene and Toni Gilbert, Gerry and Pam Gilbert, Lewis “Eddie” Gilbert, all of Hoschton; daughters and sons-in-law, Kay and Bill Costantino, Lynn and Hollis Thornton, all of Hoschton, Janet and Bobby Hilliard, Woodstock; 15 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 17, at 4:30 p.m. from the chapel of Evans Funeral Home with Jeffrey Bell officiating. Burial will be at Jackson Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends on Saturday from 3 p.m. until the hour of service at the funeral home.

Evans Funeral Home, Jefferson, is in charge of arrangements.