July 19, 1955 ~ February 25, 2026 (age 70)
Mrs. Priscella P. Holley, 70 of Opelika, AL, passed away on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.
Public Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 5, 2026, from 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM CST at Silmon-Seroyer Funeral Home Chapel in LaFayette.
Mrs. Holley will lie in repose at the church one hour before the funeral service.
Funeral Services will be held on Friday, March 6, 2025, at 1:00 PM CST at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Opelika, AL, Rev. Dr. George C. McCulloh, Pastor | Officiating.
Burial will follow in Garden Hills Cemetery in Opelika, AL.
Priscella Pearson Holley, affectionately known as Cella was born on July 19, 1955 in Chambers County, Alabama to the Union of the late Pate and Ardell Staples Pearson.
Cella accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior and joined Hopewell Baptist Church at an early age. At Hopewell, Cella served on the Matrons Auxiliary and Missionary Society. Cella was also responsible for making the church announcements and she made sure everyone was “welcome, welcome, welcome.” After many years of residing in Opelika, she united with Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
Cella was united in holy matrimony to the late Gregory King Holley, Sr. in May of 1981. To this union, their son, Gregory King Holley, Jr. was born.
A lifelong learner, Cella graduated from Milltown High School and then proceeded to further her education at Auburn University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in education. The legend, of “Hardcore Holley” began at J.P. Powell Middle School, known locally as Southside, where she taught remedial reading. After, one year in that role, she took the position of librarian at the same location, and later after executing some of the best book fairs in the state of Alabama, she transferred to W.F. Burns Middle School in Valley, Alabama, where she was recognized as a media specialist.
Shortly after, she took a second job as a phlebotomist at East Alabama Medical Center and somehow still found the time to obtain her master’s degree from Troy University. The Lord then blessed her to receive the position of assistant principal at Valley High School and then a year and a half later, she became the principal of W.F. Burns Middle School. While serving in this role in 2015, Cella made national news when CNN covered and the New York Times published an article sourced by the Associated Press that featured her idea of how to respond to a school intruder.
Cella finished her career in education in the Chambers County School System after sixteen years of setting the standard in school administration. After retirement, Cella’s big heart led her to volunteer at East Alabama Medical Center where she worked until her health became her last full-time job.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her siblings: Reuben Staples and is wife, Irene Staples Johnson; Geneva Whitlow and her husband, Willie George; Alfred Pearson, Sr. and his wife, Queenie Eleanor Pearson; and Dora Williams and her Husband, Ozzie.
Left to celebrate her life and cherish many loving memories are: her devoted son, Gregory King Holley, Jr.; her siblings, Barbara (Ordie Lee) Evans and Della (George) Gates; her sisters-in-law, Barbara Slaughter-Huguley, Linda Rowland, Gloria Wright and Sara Billingslea, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.
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