Ella F (Bonds) McCray

My name is Ella F. Bonds-McCray, I passed away on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.  I was born in Laurens, South Carolina on August 18, 1922.  My mother, Ollie Thompson, and my father, John Bonds, had six children born during their union:  John, Queen, Margie, Eula, myself, and Andrew.

In 1934, my family and I moved to Washington, D.C.  and subsequently relocated in Detroit, MI.  I worked for the General Motors Corporation.  I started as a pressor and retired in 1982 as an auto inspector.

I met the love of my life, Ernest McCray, in Detroit and married him on February 4, 1950.  My passions were family, land, and God.  I believed  "land" was the one thing man could not reproduce.  After I retired, I pursued my beliefs and returned to Laurens, South Carolina to purchase the land and home I was born in Laurens became my place of permanent residence.

I joined the Kingdom Hall Clinton Congregation and was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses on June 17, 1996.  I served Jehovah faithfully until I became ill in 2013.

I was married to Ernest for forty-five years when he passed away.  We didn't have any children together, but I was blessed with a step-daughter, Jaqueline, and a nephew, David, both of whom I help raise.  I am preceded in death by my mother, Ollie; my father, John;  husband, Ernest; step-daughter, Jackie; nephew David, and a total of twenty-two Bonds brothers and sisters.  Of Course twenty-two brothers and sisters I am survived by a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

A special thank you goes to:  The Kingdom Hall, Presbyterian Home of South Carolina's staff, Laurens Hospice staff, my niece, Theresa (Glen) Mitchell, great-niece, Patricia Dooley, and my great nephew, Leon Greenup.

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