May 30, 2024, 94, Goldsboro —
Olive “Duchess” May Howell Gravitt, 94, received her angel wings Thursday morning, May 30, 2024, at Kitty Askins Hospice Center in Goldsboro surrounded by her loving family.
A time of visitation for family and friends will be held Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 2 until 2:45 p.m. at Howell Funeral Home and Crematory in Goldsboro. A graveside service will follow at 4 p.m. at Bradshaw Family Cemetery, 3174 Bradshaw Road in Clinton with visitation to also follow at the cemetery.
She was born in Johnston County on February 28, 1930, to the late Walter and Ella Hicks Howell.
Duchess, married the true love of her life, Jasper Bradshaw, and were blessed with three children, Gary Nelson, Brenda Kaye, and Jewel Mae. Jasper was called to heaven early in life and the Duchess remarried and was blessed with another son, Danny Wayne Gravitt.
Duchess was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and sister and had many true friends throughout life. Her Grace, intellect, and kindness will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
She was a lady of quiet dignity that she carried throughout her life. Her legacy is one of boundless curiosity and generous spirit. Her journey throughout life included the love of music, travel, gardening, the love of books, reading, and decorating.
She studied interior design and had a passion for a beautiful home and decorating and come dusk the table lamps were burning. She was gifted for making everyone feel loved and appreciated. She had a passion for cooking and dedication to being a homemaker. Her home always looked like a magazine, with the most beautifully made beds. She always had fresh-cut flowers from her flower garden of roses, daises, tulips and hydrangeas, and gardenias. Dancing to candlelight and music and always looking and dressing like a Duchess was her joy.
She leaves to cherish her memories one daughter, Jewel Bradshaw Hobbs and husband, Donnie of Wilmington; one brother, J.R. Howell; three sisters, Allene Lawhorn Vogen, Joyce Ruth Nemec and husband, Bob and Linda Kay Williamson and husband, Jim; sister-in-law, Patsy Howell; six grandchildren, Heather Hobbs Noe (Jed), Brooke Hobbs Terry, Michael Daniels (Michelle), Pamela Pressley (Anthony) “Elvis,” Daniel Gravitt and Olivia Dernbach (Logan) and her thirteen great-grandchildren and a host of many other relatives and friends whom she loved dearly.
She cherished her children and grandchildren to whom she left a legacy of Christian Values, Morals, Integrity, and Graciousness, she truly was worthy of being the “Duchess of the family.” She will leave endless gardens of love to those that she touched. She had a strong faith and was very thankful for the abundantly blessed life that she lived.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husbands, Jasper Bradshaw and William Gravitt; two sons, Danny Gravitt, and Gary Nelson Bradshaw; one daughter, Brenda Daniels; son-in-law, Wayne Daniels; three brothers, Billy Ray Howell, Rudolph Howell and Howard Howell and two sisters, Edna Earl Martin and Patricia “Pat” Crawford.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Kitty Askins Hospice Center, 107 Handley Park Court, Goldsboro, North Carolina 27534.
The family is in the care of Howell Funeral Home & Crematory in Goldsboro.
