Lislie McKee Gemma

Lislie McKee Gemma of Elizabethtown, North Carolina, passed away on Sunday, October 11, 2026, surrounded by her loving family.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at Elizabethtown Baptist Church with Dr. Charles Royal presiding. A private family burial at Arlington National Cemetery will take place at a later date.

Lislie was born on a tobacco farm in Clarkton, North Carolina, on January 8th, 1936, to parents Erwin Scott McKee and Mabel Helen Harvell. She spent her childhood working on that farm alongside her two brothers. After graduating from Clarkton High School in 1954 and being crowned Miss Clarkton, Lislie pursued her talent for caring for others by earning her nursing degree from Watts College of Nursing. Later, she attained a real estate broker's license in Texas. 

Lislie was married to Col. Frank Gemma, M.D., on June 13th, 1971, at McPherson Presbyterian Church, and their two families became one.

Lislie began her career as a nurse at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, before moving on to Dr. Bennett’s office in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. Later in her career, she served as an operating room nurse for the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, Fort Riley, and the U.S. Army Garrison Heidelberg, Germany. She then became a flight attendant for Piedmont Airlines and US Airways, before opening her home goods store, Lislie’s Collectables, in Killeen, Texas.

Lislie is survived by her husband, Col. Frank Gemma, M.D. (Ret.); children Hunt Cole (Sandy), Karen Yoshijima, Steve Gemma (Susan), Linda Lindberg (David), and son-in-law Eddie Nye; grandchildren Christina Watson (Jarred), John Gemma (Emily), Jessica Singleton (Peter), Meredith Cole, Kelly Brown (Jake), Nathan Nye, Austin Lindberg (Nicole), Will Cole (Haley), Cole Nye (Carlin), and Kathryn Peterson (Nick); and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Lislie was preceded in death by her father, Erwin Scott McKee, mother Mabel Helen Harvell, brothers Lanness and Henry McKee, her daughter Kathryn (Kitty) Nye, and her grandsons Bryce Yoshijima and Nicholas Nye.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Lislie’s memory to Angel House Hospice Care Center in Whiteville, North Carolina.