Anetta "Anita" Gene Patterson Douglas, was born on March 31 1936 in Bonny Blue, VA to Floyd B & Mary Rebecca "Gypsy" McGee Patterson. Anita passed from this earthly life to her new life with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on January 16, 2022.

Preceding her in death was her soul mate, best friend, devoted and loving husband of almost 62 years Ray Edward Douglas Sr. Also preceding her in death are her parents, her step-father Robert K. Branscom, her beloved Uncle and Aunt, Moss and John Ella McGee Patterson, who raised her from infancy and whom she loving called Daddy and Mother, her cousins whom she called her brothers, Paul K. and Robert Earl Patterson and her step-sister Betty Branscom Dew.

Those left to cherish her memory are her son Ray Jr (Donna) and daughters Lisa (Rudy), and Leslie (Kevin). Her Grandchildren: Rachel (Chris), Joshua (Orietta), Jacob (Rebecca), Travis (Shelly), Adam (Casey), Rebekah, Justin (Amy), Abigail, John, Courtney (Simon), Danielle (Ethan), Stephen, Hannah, Michael, Zoe, Liberty Kady, and Christopher (Brit). Her great grandchildren are: Ramon, Andrea, Bryce, Mason, Brylee, Sullivan, Camdyn, Logan, Scarlett, Makenna, Tripp and Amelie. Also her brother Bill (Lynne) Branscom, sister-in-laws Edith Patterson, Rita Patterson, Hester (Francis) Sitterle and Clara Slovak, and numerous other extended family members and dear friends. Also, bonus family, neighbors Patrick and Carrie Scott and their children Andrea, Gary, Jamie and Erin.

In her younger years, Anita traveled between her East TN family and her Central TN family. She would attend school in both locations. When she was in East TN, what was then called Lake City, she was active in Girls In Action, a Southern Baptist Mission organization for young girls, at Lake City Baptist Church, and it was there at the age of 14, Anita chose to have a personal relationship with Jesus and accepted Him as her Lord and Savior. Anita graduated from Lake City High School in 1954 and attended Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (Tennessee Tech) in 1955 in Cookeville TN.

Anita accompanied her sister Betty and Betty's family to Houston and while Anita was employed at Red Arrow Freight Lines she met Ray, who told her about a job at the Houston Police Dept. She used him as a reference and got the job. Her time in Houston was brief because her sister Betty and the family wanted to go back to TN. Ray and Anita dated that last Friday night she was in Houston and Saturday & Sunday. Ray did manage to introduce Anita to his family that weekend.

She and Ray were married on August 23, 1958 at the First Baptist Church of Lake City TN. They honeymooned in Gatlinburg TN, then onto Niagara Falls NY and also stopping to visit Ray's family in West Virginia. Ray and Anita settled in Houston TX and raised their family in the Meadowbrook subdivision, where they lived for over 60 years.

Ray and Anita were very active in their church. Their first church together was Meadowbrook Baptist Church where Anita was a Sunday School teacher, a children's mission leader, Vacation Bible School leader, sang in the choir and was a Women's Missionary Union leader. In service to her church she also became the "Prayer Chain" starter and "Funeral Meal" caller. After they left Meadowbrook Baptist Church and they joined the Forest Oaks Baptist Church family. Mom still called everyone from Meadowbrook when someone they knew needed prayer or had passed away. Then her calls would take her all day or several days to get through because you just had to "catch up" with everyone.

Around 1970 Anita returned to the work force and was hired at Sears & Roebuck Catalog Department. She spent many years in the Catalog Sales department. How fun it was when she brought the Sears Christmas Catalog home for us to mark up for Christmas gifts we wanted. After her time at Sears she and dad traveled a lot.. sometimes with a few grandchildren, sometimes with their dog Sam, and sometimes just the two of them. There probably wasn't a County Courthouse or Genealogy Library in the Eastern portions of the United States that they didn't stop at to research records on their Ancestors: West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and so on. And I'm sure we'll find all the little note papers they wrote on to prove it. Ray and Anita were also able to take a trip Scotland to continue their research of family history. The last big trip they made was to Nova Scotia. They were the best travel partners.

Mom and dad were pretty popular with the neighborhood kids because they would always invite them in to have ice cream. She let them come in and go to the freezer and pick out their favorite, be it toffee bars, vanilla cups, ice cream sandwiches or vanilla nut sundaes cones.

There is no doubt that our mom is in heaven with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has now fully healed her broken heart, just as He promised in His word, Psalms 34:18 "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

The family will welcome friends for visitation at Peevey Funeral Home, Thursday, January 20, from 6pm until 8pm. The the service will also be held at Peevey Funeral Home, Friday, January 21, at 10am. Interment will be held at Forest Park Lawndale, Monday, January 24, at 11:00am.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in her memory to the following:

North American Mission Board - Annie Armstrong Easter Offering P.O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543 Or online at https://www.namb.net/give/

The Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) - Lottie Moon Christmas Offering 3806 Monument Ave., Richmond, VA 23230 Or online at https://www.imb.org

Mission Centers of Houston P.O. Box 30417, Houston, TX 77249 Or online at https://abundant.co/mch/give

Star of Hope Mission, P.O. Box 1505 Houston TX 77251-1505 Or online at https://www.sohmission.org/ways-to-give

The Gideons International Processing Center P.O. Box 97251, Washington, DC 20090-7251 Or online at https://www.gideons.org/donate

Harbor Foundation P O Box 21463, Beaumont, TX 77720-1463 Or online at www.harborfoundation.com