Pattie Bray

PATTIE HODGES BRAY

Funeral services were held for Pattie Lorena Hodges Bray, 96, on Nov. 9, 2009 at Shackelford Funeral Directors of Henderson -- Johnson Chapel with the Rev. Paul Roaden and Rev. Max Walker officiating. Burial was in New Friendship Cemetery in Chester County, with pallbearers Frank Arnold, Danny Hodges, Phillip Hodges, Brent Hodges, David Miller and James A. Webb.

The disease that held Mrs. Bray captive lost its paralyzing grip on her mind and body on Thursday night, Nov. 5, 2009, at her home in Henderson. The bandages and medications fell aside as she was swept into the loving arms of her savior Jesus Christ, as she believed in the "hope of glory" beyond the grave.

Born at Jacks Creek, she was the daughter of the late Rev. Henry Day and Lula Luizer Smith Hodges. Her sister, Eva Hodges Miller, and both brothers, Herbert Spencer Hodges and Newton Harris Hodges, preceded her in death.

On May 20, 1944, she married Johnnie Newton Bray of the New Friendship community. They shared 65 years together, serving over 50 years as active members of the First Baptist Church in Henderson, where missions and the homebound and nursing home ministry were always dear to her heart.

Those who knew Pattie Bray remember her as a gracious homemaker who enjoyed the bounty of God's creation in the garden she tended with her husband year after year, which provided countless meals to be shared with family and friends. She took great pleasure in the everyday beauty that nature provided around her home with a special interest in wild birds and her lovely flowers.

She is survived by her husband, Johnnie Bray, daughter, Patricia Ann Minor (Charles E. "Chuck"), two grandchildren, Lee Ann Elinski (Michael) and Christopher Charles Minor (Amanda), and five great-grandchildren, Grace Ann, Michael Charles, Zachary Bray and Elli Stephen Elinski, as well as Charles ("Charlie") Sparks Miner, all of Jackson, MS.

Sincere gratitude is extended to a very special group of ladies who like an "angel band" lovingly cared for her in the latter years of her life: Naomi Arnold, Leona Griswell, Mary Jane Harris, Mary Howell, Phyliss Lackey, Jennie Mooney, Vicki Rankin, Shirley Smith, Lilly Terry and Arbie Whitman.

Pattie Bray was greatly loved and will be deeply missed.