Mary Luthera (Cee) Oakes Raney

Mary Luthera (Cee) Oakes Raney, 90, of Albany, GA died Monday, April 4, 2016 at Wynfield Health and Rehab. Funeral services will be conducted Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. at Mathews Funeral Home. Mr. Walt Hobby will officiate. Interment will follow in Crown Hill Cemetery.

Cee Raney was born in Turner Co., GA on January 27, 1926 to the late Luther Avery Oakes and Martha Fletcher Oakes. She was one of nine children all of which made up the band that was commonly known as "Pop Oakes and His Little Acorns" which played at numerous barn dances and social events that would cover most of Southwest Georgia.

Cee Raney was very successful in her career as an Avon Products district sales manager for over thirty years making many friends throughout Southwest Georgia. To all the many Avon Representatives that she managed, she was affectionately known as "The Hat Lady". Her love of music led her to establish the Oakes Family Gospel sing in 1990 in Ashburn, GA which was an inspirational time of gospel music for many years.

She was also a past president of the Pelham Country Jamboree and made many trips to Pelham, GA on Saturday night taking numerous friends and family with her. Cee was a kind and considerate person, a devoted spouse who loved her family very much and especially her grandson, Jay. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of sixty years, William Hardy Raney, Jr, a daughter, Mary Lou (Sissy) Corbitt, five brothers, Doc Oakes, Mack Oakes, Fletcher Oakes, L.A. Oakes, Virgil Oakes and three sisters, Carolyn Lord, Nita White and Audaree Hobby.

Survivors include two sons, William Hardy (Bill) Raney, III (Lillian), Thomasville, GA, Blake Raney (Denise), Albany, GA, five grandchildren, Leigh Barwick (Ken), Thomasville, GA, Leslie Pegram (Lynn), Savannah, GA, Jay Corbitt, Albany, GA, Angel Redmon (Dan), Albany, GA, Blake Raney, Jr. (Jeannie), Macon, GA and six great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends Thursday from 2:00 p.m. until the funeral hour at Mathews Funeral Home.

The family is at the residence of Blake and Denise Raney, 1907 River Pointe Dr., Albany, GA.

Those desiring may make memorials to the Building Fund of the First Baptist Church of Thomasville, GA, 210 N. Broad Street, Thomasville, GA, 31792 or the Pelham Country Jamboree, 153 W. Railroad St., Pelham, GA, 31779.