Ouachita County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....GRAVELLE, MARY ALICE HARRIS July 18, 2016 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: GINA BROWN rootsgirl36@gmail.com September 10, 2016, 6:37 am News Star World - July 21, 2016 MARY ALICE HARRIS GRAVELLE Services celebrating the life of Mary Alice Harris Gravelle will be held at 1:00pm Thursday, July 21, 2016 at First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro. Visitation with her family will be held prior to her service from 11:00 until the service begins in the Church Sanctuary. Mary Alice was born February 27, 1939 in Winnsboro, Louisiana. She passed away on Monday, July 18, 2016 surrounded by her family. Twenty-seven years ago Mary Alice was diagnosed with Scleroderma and for those twenty seven years she managed to keep the symptoms that define the diagnosis under control. Through often difficult and painful issues her remarkable determination and spirit enabled her to live her life sharing her many talents with those who had the privilege of knowing her. "Grangy", the name she loved to hear from her Grandchildren, graduated from Fort Necessity High School. It was as a young girl living in this tiny community of Jigger that she taught herself to play the piano and organ. She was surrounded in her formative years in Jigger with music - primarily gospel music. This talent accompanied her throughout her life and she willingly shared it with others serving as the church organist at First United Methodist Church in Winnsboro until her disease prevented her from continuing. In 1960 she went to work for L.S. Gravelle & Son, the local Gulf Oil distributer in Winnsboro and it was there that she met Joe M. (Bobo) Gravelle. They married in 1961. Later she would become the secretary-treasurer of L.S. & J.M. Gravelle, Inc. She and Bobo worked together side by side for over thirty years building a successful business that is still thriving today. Second only to her love of her God was the love and devotion she felt for her family. She was a loving, nurturing wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and sister. The needs and wishes of those family members always came first. They were her greatest joy. Beyond her love of her God and her family was the love she felt for her Church. She was instrumental in re-establishing the United Methodist Women's organization in her church and served as its President for many years. She served on numerous committees in her church in various capacities. If you needed a job to be done Mary Alice was the one you turned to. An avid reader, a hobby she shared with her husband, she accumulated a library of books comparable to a small public library. She enjoyed sharing books she discovered with friends and with fellow members of her Winnsboro Book Club. Another activity Mary Alice and Bobo shared was traveling. Road trips with far- away destinations were their favorite activity - always in their car because Mary Alice just did not consider airplane travel an option! They might have been the only couple who purchased a car in Winnsboro - set out on their road trip to Alaska - and returned to Winnsboro 12,000 miles later! When she wasn't reading or traveling she was "collecting" - Collections too numerous to list - one in particular would stand out and that would be her ceramic dachshund dogs. She and Bobo always had a dachshund in their family so this "collection" was a natural. Mary Alice leaves behind her sweet companion and friend Bojangles, affectionately known as Bo. Bo provided her many hours of joy while she lived at home alone. Somehow between her music, her books, her church work, travels and her collections, she found time and loved to play Bridge and Canasta - every week. Even days when her illness made her unable to participate she enjoyed having her group of friends in her home playing cards. Mary Alice touched many lives during her life and will be missed by so many. Our community is a better place because Mary Alice Gravelle was a part of it. She was preceded in death by her parents Charles Haskell Harris and Ethel Powell Harris, her husband Joe M. Gravelle; her granddaughter Hallie Beth Gravelle, and her sister Cleo Harris Wiggers; and her brother Charles "Punchin" Harris. She is survived by her two sons Paul C. Gravelle and his wife Debra, and Joe S. Gravelle, and his wife Beth Ann, all of Winnsboro, LA. The three grandchildren who called her "Grangy" are Harrison Gravelle, Chas Gravelle, and Mary Beth Gravelle. She is also survived by one sister Chloe Harris Dickson and her husband Thomas Patrick Dickson of Bossier City, Louisiana; one brother Allen "Puddler" Harris and his wife Marcette of Lake Charles, Louisiana; Sisters - in - Law, Babs Gravelle Tullos of New Roads, Louisiana ,and Marileon Gravelle Peterson of Bridge City, Texas. In addition to those mentioned are numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews all who combined to make up the family Mary Alice treasured. Her friends from all walks of her life will forever remember her as a caring, loving and giving person. The family would also like to express their love and gratitude to the special care-givers who made her life independent and viable. These wonderful ladies are Betty Doyle, Martha Yeats, Vicki Huff, Victoria Estes and Joyce Heath. Pallbearers will be Chas Gravelle, Harrison Gravelle, Scott Wiggers, Matt Dickson, Chas Dickson, David Dickson, Doyle Harris and Louis Robinson. Memorials for Mary Alice can be made to First United Methodist Church, 1502 West Street, Winnsboro, Louisiana 71295 or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital , 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tennessee 38105. Online condolences may be made at www.gillfirstnational.com . Gill First National Funeral Home Winnsboro, LA File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/ouachita/obits/g/gravelle5478nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/lafiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb