Wilva McNeese Gray, 93, of Tifton and Nashville went home to be with her Lord on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. Her funeral service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Friday, September 11, 2015, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals with Rev. Terrell Roberts and Rev. Jackie Connell officiating. Mrs. Gray will be laid to rest at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday, September 10, 2015, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Vinson Griffin, Mark Griffin, Denzel Griffin, Julian Rowe, David Rowe, Gary Terrell and Ricky Justice will serve as pallbearers. The family requests that any children who may have stayed in Miss Wilva’s daycare to come and serve as honorary pallbearers.
Mrs. Gray was born April 2, 1922 in Alapaha in the Rowe community, which was named after her family. She was the daughter of Richard W. Rowe and Fannie Belle Harper Rowe, both deceased. She was also preceded in death by her first husband, William J. McNeese; two grandsons, William J. McNeese II and Adam Schrier; seven sisters; and six brothers. She owned and operated Miss Wilva's Daycare for 33 years and had lived in Tifton since 1949. She was a member of Tift Avenue Baptist Church.
Mrs. Gray is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, Rev. William Jerome and Debbi McNeese of Lawrenceville; two sisters, Dorothy Warwick of Nashville and Melba Weldon of Hahira; four grandchildren and their spouses, Rebecca and Matt Hoffacker of Nashville, James Craig and Sara McNeese of Pensacola, Florida, Rhonda and Matthew Griffin of Brunswick and Angie and Andy Ward of Blackshear; and eight great-grandchildren
Flowers will be accepted or memorial gifts may be made to your local adoption/foster care division of Family and Children Services.