Gaynelle Brashear's Obituary
Services for Gaynelle Russell Brashear will be at 12:00 noon on Friday, July 3, 2015 at the Rader Funeral Home Chapel in Longview with the Reverend Harlan Hall presiding. Burial will follow at Grace Hill cemetery. Mrs. Brashear passed away Monday, June 29, 2015.
Born to Minnie Lee Womack Russell and John William Russell on August 4, 1917, at their home in Marietta, Texas, Mrs. Brashear was the youngest of six children. She attended school in Marietta and Naples, Texas being taught for many years by her oldest sister Thelma before graduating from Naples High School in 1934 at the age of sixteen. The family’s Sundays began and ended in Oak Ridge Baptist Church.
In 1939 she moved to Longview and attended Bish Mathis Institute which led to a position with Longview National Bank as one of the banks first drive through tellers. She soon met a young soldier, Charles Aubrey Brashear, whom she married December 29, 1945, at the conclusion of World War II, with Dr. W. Morris Ford officiating. This union was celebrated for 62 years until Aubrey’s death in 2007.
Mrs. Brashear was a member of the First Presbyterian Church for twenty years and reunited with the First Baptist Church in 1970 where she was an active member of the Faith Sunday School Class for over 30 years. She was a founding member of the High Hopes Garden Club and held several offices through the years.
She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who will be truly missed by all who knew her. Her children never hesitated to volunteer her for the many activities they were involved in, as she was devoted to their needs and those of their friends. In 1966 she received the Parent Teachers Association Lifetime Achievement Award for her active involvement at Ware Elementary, Foster Junior High and Longview High School. She will forever be remembered for her steadfast love of family, God and the dignity in which she lived her life each and every day. The compassion and strong moral character she displayed will be remembered by all who knew her.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Minnie Russell, her husband Aubrey Brashear, brothers Edwin Russell, Kress Russell, and J.C. Russell, sisters Ermadine Kate Russell and Thelma Vivian Russell, brother-in- law and sister-in-law Harry and Kathryn Mosley, son-in-law Eddie Modisett and nephew and wife Carroll and Barbara Russell.
Mrs. Brashear is survived by her daughter Brenda Modisett and sons and daughters- in-law Charlie and Becky Brashear and Joe and Melanie Brashear all of Longview; granddaughters and husbands Mary Jane and Kyle Heath of Dallas, Allison and Chris Stephenson of Santa Fe, New Mexico, grandsons Chase Brashear of Dallas and Aaron Brashear of Austin; great-granddaughters Bailey Heath of Dallas and Camryn Stephenson of Santa Fe; nephew and wife John and Audrey Russell of Coldspring, Texas, Gordon and Patti Mosley of Tyler, and nieces and husbands Kem and J. J. Scroggin of Longview and Harriett and John Luce of South Carolina.
Our family wishes to express our heartfelt gratitude to our mother’s dear caregivers who not only took such wonderful care of Mom but truly loved her as though she was a member of their family-Sherry Jones, Lois McDaniel, Glenda Hall, Macy Shelton, Lela Conway, Maria Cedillo, Judy Puerto and Cindy Lindsey.
Pallbearers will be Chase Brashear, Aaron Brashear, Dr. John Russell, Kyle Heath, Mitch Modisett, and Randy Brock .
In lieu of customary tributes, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to a noble charity of your choice.
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