Ione Whitehead Presley, age 94, of McKinney, Texas passed away July 8, 2006 in McKinney, Texas. She was born January 29, 1912, in North Bradley, Michigan to William and Iva (Whitney) Whitehead, and spent what she described as an “idyllic” childhood on a Michigan farm, where she walked several miles to school each day. In the 1920s, Ione’s family moved to Saginaw, Michigan, where she graduated from Arthur Hill High School in 1930. After high school, she ran her own business, “Direct Mail Advertising,” which handled mailing services for Saginaw companies. She also met her husband, Oran Presley, in Saginaw, when he bet his fellow workers at the Standard Oil mail room that he could get a date with the “Direct Mail girl.” They were married on February 11, 1939, in Kalamazoo, Michigan where Oran was a student at Kalamazoo College. Oran and Ione attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania and Oran was an American Baptist Minister. The couple served at Seventh Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, Olivet Baptist Church in Valley Stream, New York, Margate Community Church, in Margate, New Jersey and First Baptist Church of Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Their longest ministry was at Margate in the 1950s and 1960s, where Oran and Ione raised their two sons. In 1965, Ione Presley received the award of “Mother of the Year” for New Jersey. Ione was widowed in 1969 when Oran died of cancer. She had worked as a church secretary for many years, and after her husband’s death had a career as a legal secretary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was an exceptional typist and an expert at short-hand, which she continued to use well into her later years. Ione returned to Michigan after retirement in the 1970s, but moved to Texas in 1978 to be near her grandchildren. She has been a McKinney resident since 1983, but prior to that lived in Austin and Tyler. Ione was a member of the Owl Club of McKinney. She loved to read, often completing several books a week, as well as magazines and newspapers. For many years she volunteered at Finch Elementary in McKinney, reading to children, and also was a volunteer in the children’s programs at First Baptist Church of McKinney. She loved to travel and had the opportunity to tour extensively through Europe, Africa and the Middle East during her lifetime. She is survived by her sons, Philip Oran Presley and wife, Linda of Austin, Texas and Londonderry, New Hampshire, and Mark Whitehead Presley, Sr. and wife, Anne of McKinney; granddaughters, Susan Spinney, KariAnne Wood, Kristin Radford, Kijsa Housman and Whitney Presley; grandsons, Mark Presley, Jr. and Stephen Presley; and 13 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; 2 brothers and 1 sister. Memorials may be made to the McKinney Public Library or Library Fund of the McKinney First Baptist Church.