Wilma Cannon Cheely, 99: Pioneering Entrepreneur

By Rick Badie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When her husband's company needed a temporary typist, Wilma Cheely didn't offer to fill in.

Instead, she borrowed $1,000 from her husband and  founded a company.  She ran a classified ad aimed at wives, teachers and students.  She sent fliers advertising her service to businesses.

In 1953, Temporary Office Personnel Services, Inc., or TOPS,  showed a profit its first year. It grew to three locations:  Colony Square, and office parks in the Cumberland and North Lake areas.

In Atlanta, Mrs. Cheely pioneered temporary office placement. She was self-made. In fact, she was recognized as such in 1986. The Atlanta Women's News and Phipps Plaza honored 27 of the city's "top self-made women."

The criteria:  Each woman had to have a net worth of at least $1 million and an annual income of more than $100,000, according to an article that appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"I don't know where anybody gets their self-confidence, but she was always a self-assured person," said her daughter, Jeanne Cheely Hill of Atlanta.

"I used to say she was a woman's libber before women's lib. There were no temp services of any kind in Atlanta.  She saw a need."

Wilma Ruth Cannon Cheely, 99,  of Atlanta died Friday of natural causes at her home.  A graveside burial will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Westview Cemetery. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is handling arrangements.

Mrs. Cheely grew up on a farm with three brothers on the banks of the Tennessee River. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Montivallo, near Birmingham.

In the early 1930s, she moved to Atlanta, alone.  She lived in a boarding house run by the Young Women's Christian Association. She studied to become a dental hygienist and worked as one for a few years. She eventually earned a real estate license.  That was her back-up plan.

"She'd say you don't know what is going to happen in life, so just make sure you have skills, then you'll take off from there," said her eldest granddaughter, Helen Hill Adams of Atlanta. "She taught her employees and most everybody around her that."

TOPS was sold in 1987, after 35 years. Mrs. Cheely said in a 1978 interview that she started the firm at the right time, in the right market. She said communication was the key to its success, along with the ability to "serve two people at the same time --  the applicant who needs the job and the company that needs the help."

In the business community, she served and belonged to organizations that included the Women's Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Midtown Business Associates. She was president of the Georgia Association of Personnel Services, the National Association of Temporary And Staffing Services and vice president of Independent  Office Services.

Mrs. Cheely was married to the late Lamar Cheely, who was vice president of Patents Scaffolding Co. He died in 1966.

For leisure, she enjoyed the symphony and theater. She was an avid traveler and gardener.

Her self-assurance and legacy as a female business pioneer has impressed many, especially great-grand daughter, Katie Adams of Atlanta.

"She is beautiful, intelligent, classy and full of life," Ms. Adams wrote. "She is an inspiration to me and all who knew her."

Additional survivors include two other daughters, Jane Jerden of Atlanta and Laura Kimsey of Toccoa;  seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.