Rhebia Anne (Barry) Raines, age 84, passed away Monday, February 17, 2025 at Westside Terrace Healthcare.
A Memorial Service will be held at 2:30pm on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in the Glover Funeral Home Chapel with Mr. Wayne Pierce officiating. The family will receive friends from 1:30pm until 2:15pm at the funeral home prior to services.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105 or a local church of one’s choice.
Rhebia was born on March 31, 1940 in Plant City, Florida. She spent most of her early childhood years growing up in Valdosta and Moultrie, Georgia. She graduated from Moultrie High School in 1957 and married soon after. She followed her Navy spouse from Moultrie, Georgia to Maryland, to California, to Hawaii and finally back to Valdosta, Georgia. After three children, she became a single mother and provided for her children single handedly until they each started life of their own. After divorce, she moved to Ft. Stewart, Georgia to enter civil service. At Ft. Stewart, she served as the first female helicopter instructor on base. Her role was to teach principles of weather and instrument flight instruction to pilots who would carry these skills to Vietnam. She continued accomplishing great things even into her sixties, where she once again taught helicopter pilots. In this service at Ft. Rucker, she taught pilots how to survive an emergency water landing when the aircraft rolls inverted. She was an incredibly wise mother, and always knew how to make ends meet during difficult times. Rhebia attended Westgate Church of Christ for twenty-five years.
Rhebia is preceded in death by her parents, Oscar Lee Barry and Ludie Irene Norman Barry; and husband.
Survivors include her two sons, William “Bill” Johnson (Brooke) of Dallas, TX and Joey Johnson (Cherri) of Concord, NC; daughter Jennifer Johnson, DVM of Knoxville, TN; sister, Dorothy Hunter of Bedford, VA; seven grandchildren; four great grandchildren; two nieces and two nephews.
Glover Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. (334) 699-3888. Please sign the guestbook online at www.gloverfuneral.com
