Face Coverings Are Still Required to Enter the Funeral Home!!!

Funeral service will be 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, at St. James AME Church, Castle Hayne, NC.  Burial will follow in the Moore-Grady Cemetery, Castle Hayne, NC.  Visitation will be from 5:30-8:00 P.M. on Tuesday at the funeral home.

Thalia Pierce Grady was born April 14, 1925, in Brunswick County, North Carolina to Samuel and Mary Elizabeth Tate Pierce.  God summoned one of his angels, Thalia Pierce Grady to eternal rest on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. She accepted Christ at an early age and joined St. James AME Church.  She was a faithful member until her health failed.  She served on many ministries at the church, to include: Pastor's Aide, formally Helping Hands, Stewardess Board Member, Sunday School Teacher, Willing Worker Club, Class Leader and Senior Usher.  As an usher she took her position seriously.  I know many of you have been corrected by Thalia as she was a dutiful doorkeeper in the house of God.  As a missionary, she and Mama Carole Leake started a card ministry, sending cards to the sick and shut-in.  She and Mrs. Margaret Batts started a Prayer Ministry, praying for all those who needed prayer.  She continued her missionary work preparing soup for the sick and shut-in. Being the oldest woman at St. James she was affectionately called the Mother of the church. In the community, she was known as "The Brown Dog Lady".  She also made freeze pops for the children.  Mrs. Thalia was also known as the "Cake Lady", making her delicious "Caramel Pecan" cakes.  She was preceded in death by two of her children, Brenda Newkirk and Thomas Grady. She leaves to cherish her memory:  her children, Eldridge (Joyce) Grady of Millersville, MD, Cynthia Hinnant and Deborah Miller of Wilmington, NC, and Kenneth Grady of Castle Hayne, NC; daughter-in-law, Barbara Grady of Leland, NC; sister, Henrietta Collins of Bronx, NY; sister-in-law, Eleanor Pierce of Fayetteville, NC;  twelve grandchildren; a host of great-grands and great-great-grands; two adopted daughters, Arlene Lawson and Carol Tyson Green, who she loved as her own; many nieces, nephews, cousins and other loved ones.