GREENVILLE — Grave-side services for Adelyn Gerald Stokes of Greenville will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Leland-Stoneville Cemetery.
Ms. Stokes, 86, died peacefully in her Greenville home on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
Born April 3, 1928, at King’s Daughter’s Hospital in Greenville, she was the daughter of Eugene and May Gerald, and she spent her early childhood in Leland with her sisters, Martha Wilson Gerald and Lucy Gerald Moak. She attended Millsaps College and the University of Mississippi before graduating from Delta State University later in life with a Spanish major. During her years in Greenwood, she taught Spanish at Pillow Academy’s high school. After teaching, she continued her education by earning a paralegal degree from the Paralegal Institute of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pa. She moved to Houston, Texas, and began a career in pension plans with the law firm of Vinson and Elkins. Two years later, she returned to Jackson and resumed her career in the pension plan department of the Butler Snow law firm. She married Walter Elisha Stokes III of Greenville on July 2, 1983, and they resided in Greenville for the rest of their lives as active members of Trinity United Methodist Church, where she performed in the church choir.
She is survived by her children, John James Fraiser III and his wife, Carole, and Martha Fraiser Bryant; her grandchildren, Luci, Mary Adelyn and Paul Fraiser; her brother-in-law, Dr. William Edwin Moak; her niece, Susan Moak Sheldon; her nephew, Dr. Thomas Edwin Moak; her stepchildren, Laura Stokes Hopkins and her husband, Rick, Connie Stokes Griffin and her husband, Daniel, Amy Chatham Stokes, John Clayton Stokes and his wife, Tammy, and Walter Elisha Stokes IV and his wife, Cynthia; and her stepgrandchildren, Stephen, Tommy, Caitlin, Meredith, Daniel, Alex, Matt and Michael.
Sebrell Funeral Home of Ridgeland is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of Mississippi, 196 Charmant Drive, Suite 4, Ridgeland, MS 39157.
