Mrs. Thelma T. Strickland, 83, of Fayetteville, died Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008, in North Carolina State Veterans Nursing Home. Mrs. Strickland was the first born of Cleo and Mafalda Taylor of Autryville. She helped take care of her siblings as they grew up. She also helped her widowed sister raise three boys, Stoney, Tommy and Johnny Williams. She was preceded in death by her husband, William A. Strickland. Mrs. Strickland was a former owner and operator of Thelma