Bunelle Hall Gresham

Stephenville -- Bunelle Hall Gresham, 92, passed away on July 16, 2009. Funeral: 11:00 AM, Saturday, July 18, at Stephenville Funeral Home, Rev. Clyde Glazener, officiating. Visitation: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Friday at Stephenville Funeral Home. Interment: Glenn Cemetery in Bluff Dale, Texas. Bunelle Hall Gresham was born on November 9, 1916, in Dothan, Alabama. She grew up on a dairy farm outside Dothan along with four sisters. She graduated from Alabama College in Motevallo and taught high school history for two years in Ranburn, Alabama. She enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1940. She completed a Masters degree in religious education at SWBTS. There she met another student, Felix Gresham. She and Felix were married on July 8, 1945 while he was on furlough from military service. After his discharge at the end of World War II, they lived in Fort Worth where Felix resumed Seminary studies. In 1947 they moved to Stephenville, where Felix Gresham became the first Director of the Baptist Student Center at John Tarleton College, and then later was a pastor of the First Baptist Church. In 1955 he became Dean of Students at Southwestern Seminary, and the family moved to Fort Worth. She and Felix lived in the same house in Fort Worth for fifty years. During this time she served her family and her church, Gambrell Street Baptist Church. She was also active in the Southwestern Seminary Women's Club and the Republican Party. She and Felix moved back to Stephenville in 2005, and for the past three years she has lived at Oakwood Assisted Living and Community Nursing Center. There she continued to be of help through encouraging staff and residents, and by playing the piano. Although she is gone from us, her lifelong example of cheerful Christian service remains. Survivors include her Husband, Felix Gresham of Stephenville; two sisters, Anna May of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mary Reames of Greenville, South Carolina; son John Gresham and daughter-in-law Renee Gresham of Bluff Dale; two grandchildren, James Gresham and Joanna Shaw of Stephenville; and three great-granddaughters. She was preceded in death by her sister, Mildred Hunter of Dothan. Alabama, and sister Angelina Way of Atlanta, Georgia. Memorials: in lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to First Baptist Church, Stephenville, or to Gambrell Street Baptist Church, Fort Worth.