Obituaries:  Mrs. Mary Belle Wallace Mosley, 1963, Winn Parish, LA.
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From:  May 9, 1963 Winn Parish Enterprise-News American

Mrs. Belle Mosley, 86, Pioneer Resident, Dies

Mrs. Mary Belle Wallace Mosley, affectionately known as "Belle Mamma",
died Wednesday morning at 6:05, ending a life of service to her church and
the people of Winnfield.  She was 86 years of age, and had been ill for
several months.

Funeral services will be conducted at the First Baptist Church of
Winnfield at 2 p.m. today.  Dr. W. L. Holcomb, pastor, will officiate.
Interment will be in the Winnfield Cemetery under direction of Southern
Funeral Home of Winnfield.

Pallbearers will be Murray Duncan, Ray Jenkins, Luther Moore, Bill Willis,
Cas B. Moss, Stuart Storey, Dudley Shell and Johnny Holmes.

Mrs. Mosley was a member of one of the pioneer families of Winn Parish.
She was born January 30, 1877, to James Thompson Wallace and Olive Serena
Peters Wallace, who lived in the rural area which is now the present site
of Sikes, Louisiana.  Her father was licensed and ordained to preach at
the Shady Grove Baptist Church and in 1880 he moved his family to
Winnfield where he accepted the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of
Winnfield.

Because her father was also the teacher in the one-room public school of
Winnfield, Miss Belle began school at the early age of four years.  At 16
years of age she took the teacher's examination and became a teacher in
the public school of Winn Parish.  She was the first to teach the word
method of teaching beginners, a method introduced by her father who was
then Superintendent of the Winn Parish Public Schools.

IN 1898 Mrs. Mosley's mother organized the Ladies Aid Society in the local
church.  Its members sold lemonade, and with the $ 25 they made, purchased
the present site of the First Baptist Church of Winnfield.

The Ladies Aid Society later became known as the Women's Missionary Union,
in which organization Mrs. Mosley served as president and circle leader
numerous times.  She organized the first young married women's circle,
named the Belle Mosley Circle.

She joined the church in September, 1896, during a revival held in the
court house because there was no church building.  She served as Sunday
School teacher as early as 1898 when the first Sunday School was organized
in the local church.  She taught age groups from nine to ninety and was an
active teacher until her recent illness.  She was also a member of he
choir for many years.  Until her death she was known as the oldest
continuous member of the First Baptist Church of Winnfield.

While holding the job of Winnfield post mistress as well as teacher in
1901 and 1902, she met her husband, John H. Mosley, who was surveyor for
the L. & A. Railroad, a company extending its lines through Winnfield at
that time.  They were married in a home ceremony.  Mr. Mosley died several
years ago.

The W. M. U., in 1960, honored "Belle Mama" with a tea, and in the account
of her life they wrote "There are very few of the active workers in our
church who have lived here through the years who have not come under the
influence of her teaching, her remarkable knowledge of the bible, and her
example of her daily Christian life."

Surviving Mrs. Mosley is one son, Dr. John T. Mosley, of Winnfield; three
sisters, Mrs. W. J.  Farber of Baton Rouge, La., Mrs. E. E. Kidd of New
Orleans, La., and Mrs. Gill Smith of Fort Isabelle, Texas, and a number of
nieces and nephews.