Emma Crayton

Emma Jean Crayton was born to the late Norman and Ruth Crayton on August 14, 1954, in New Site, Alabama. Her family relocated to Attalla, Alabama, in the 1960s and she was a proud member of the Norris High School class of 1971. Emma moved to New York as a teenager during the Great Migration and was a caregiver for virtually her entire life. She took great joy in providing childcare services in her community as a young girl and ultimately worked in healthcare as a certified nurse assistant.

After living and working in New York for nearly 20 years, Emma moved to Chinquapin, North Carolina, and was an active and committed member of Yeshuwa Temple Church of God and True Holiness, under the spiritual guidance and teaching of Bishop Davelon Carr. Eventually, Emma returned home to the Gadsden area and was nurtured under the pastoral leadership of Apostle Maurice K. Wright. Emma believed in kingdom ministry and was a supportive member of the body of Christ.

Once Emma retired, she used her time as an empty nester to serve as a therapeutic foster parent. It was through this avenue that Emma fostered and eventually adopted her beloved “Tuck,” for whom she provided loving care, until the end of her life.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Norman and Ruth Crayton; siblings Margie, Kasib, Artie, Katie, Roosevelt, and Diane; as well as special mother-figure, Rosie Lee Toles; special friend Ruth Norris, and Apostle Maurice K. Wright.

She leaves to cherish her sweet memories: her children, Felicia (Robert) Wilson of Lawrenceville, GA, Jeanetta Thomas of Gadsden, Chatman Hill-Crayton of Birmingham, and Marshall Tucker Strauss-Crayton of Gadsden; two granddaughters, Domonique and Faith Wilson of Lawrenceville, GA; sisters, Lizzie Lipscomb of Cleveland, TN, Dorothy McCool of Cleveland, OH, and Jather Crayton of Baltimore, MD; lifelong sister-friend, Gannie V. White; special friends, Claudine Crumpler, Rebecca Curry, Brenda Wright, Anna Heard, and Estella Hendricks; adopted mothers, Ethel Sattiewhite and Irene Ash; adopted children, Kabraila Wright-Gray, Victor Maye, and Beunica Bentley McDowell; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

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