Gerald Deene Pulliam Dreher, 82, of Hernando Beach, Fla., and formerly of West Memphis, Ark., and Punta Gorda, Fla., passed away Monday, Feb. 11, 2013.

She was born March 10, 1930, the sixth of nine children, to Bee and Florence Wileman of South Pittsburg, Tenn.

Gerald Deene married Lee Elgan Pulliam and settled in West Memphis, where they raised their four children. Following Lee’s death in 1967, she married Sam P. Dreher in 1969, and later gave birth to her youngest son, Sam Presley Dreher II. In 1988 she relocated to Punta Gorda, where, in addition to helping to raise her grandchildren, she went to work as a cook first at Sallie Jones Elementary School, and later at South Port Square Nursing Center. Gerald Deene retired in 2000, following a stroke. She was a member of Port Charlotte Church of Christ.

Gerald Deene is survived by her daughters, Chrystal Harris of South Mills, N.C., and Cindy (Tim) Lutz of Hernando Beach; sons, Curtiss (Carol) Pulliam of Wilmington, N.C., and Clint (Matina) Pulliam of Port Charlotte, Fla.; grandchildren, Dawn Cake and Kelley (Gary) Colonna, Amy, Christopher and Dana Pulliam, Tyler Dreher, Beth (Tim) Wheeler, Benjamin Hooper, and Brooke, Paige and Savanna Pulliam; five great-granddaughters; a great-grandson; sisters, Mary Jayne Raster of Cusseta, Ga., and Betty Sue (Carl) Strom of Fort Myers, Fla.; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to her husbands, she also was preceded in death by her beloved son, Sam Presley Dreher II, in 2012.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 2, 2013, at Port Charlotte Church of Christ, 20484 Midway Blvd., Port Charlotte. She will be laid to rest at a later date next to her son, Presley, in a private burial at Charlotte Memorial Gardens.

Arrangements are by Charlotte Memorial Funeral Home and Cemetery.