Pictures in the plates from Kaley Greer's memorial table show Kaley enjoying time with her friends and family, and playing sports.

Every year Sardis Springs Baptist Church holds a ladies tea party for women in and around its community to eat and have fellowship. And, every year, 16-year-old Kaley Greer helped her mother Elizabeth Greer and great-aunt Amy Beth Presnell with their tables.

Kaley planned to have her own table at the 15^th annual tea party — she had already picked out the dishes and made plans for her table — and then, on Aug. 15, 2016, the Ardmore High School student died from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.

“She’s been helping with this event since she was a little girl,” Presnell said. “She really enjoyed helping me and I could always depend on her and her cousin.”

To celebrate Kaley’s memory, her mother decided to make two tables in Kaley’s honor and use Kaley’s dishes on one of the tables. So, despite Kaley’s absence, Elizabeth and Presnell said they could feel her spirit.

“It was like she was there with us — (the table) was being able to have her there,” Elizabeth said. Elizabeth draped Kaley’s apron across one of the tables. On top she placed a tea set Kaley played with as a little girl.

Elizabeth used the space on her own table to honor Kaley.

“I made placemats with different pictures like her playing ball, of Kaley and family, and Kaley and her friends,” she said.

Presnell said she wanted to make sure Kaley was remembered by everyone, but she didn’t want the memories to be sad ones.

“I mentioned from the podium about the tables being in her memory and how much she contributed throughout the years,” she said. “We didn’t want to make it a sad occasion but we wanted to remember her.”

At the last tea party Kaley attended, she and her family sang. Pressnell said it was a spur of the moment decision.

“It was a last minute thing — I always thought that was a God thing because we decided to do that and it was her last time there,” she said.

Elizabeth said she is already planning her table for next year and looking at ways to include Kaley’s memory.

“There were a lot of other ideas I had,” she said. “I thought about doing one for just her ball friends and close friends at school. Maybe next year I’ll do two tables for her.”

The tea party

The ladies tea party is a way for women to come together, eat a meal and listen to an inspirational speaker.

Ladies at the church and around the area sponsor a table and show off their best china or dishes.

“It’s something the women of the church have done and it’s just grown,” she said. “The first year we did it, we had 12 or 13 tables, but this year we had 37 tables.”

It costs $10 to attend the party. The money goes toward the meal and speaker, Presnell said.

“We just do it for the enjoyment of women getting together and having a good meal,” she said. “It’s just a ministry to the ladies in the communities. It’s not pushing our church or anything like that — it’s just to inspire them and to help and encourage them.”

The tea parties are open to everyone and the Sardis Springs ladies have had people come from as far away as Birmingham to take part.

“It’s to the point where it’s not just my church, there’s people from every faith. We’re not exclusive, anyone can come who wants to,” Presnell said.