ALLENE BRAY

PERRY – Allene Starr Bray, also affectionately known as “Totsie,” 99, passed away peacefully at her home on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. Graveside services will be held on Sunday, July 30, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. in Oglethorpe Cemetery in Oglethorpe, Georgia. Allene was born in Lockhart, Texas, to the late Wallace and Freida Fischer Starr. She married the love of her life, Morgan Bray, when she was eighteen years old. With him an active serviceman in the U.S. Army during World War II, the couple moved to Georgia from where Morgan was originally. Allene worked for Colonial Stores in Macon for many years, before moving to Macon County where they eventually purchased a farm and settled. She loved to harvest vegetables, especially pulling corn and shelling peas, to serve to her family all through the year. Soon after their move, Allene, who was well-known for her cooking skills, purchased the Dixie Queen Restaurant and opened Bray’s Barbecue. She became known as “a legend” in Montezuma and Oglethorpe, employing young people to teach them work ethic and customer service, and serving some of the best Southern cooking you’ve ever put in your mouth for over twenty-five years. Allene was not afraid to work, for she “worked like a man,” building fences and making repairs around their farm, homes, and restaurants. Dancing was a favorite pastime of Allene, whether it was in a restaurant or in her home, and she loved fishing. Through the years, she and her husband owned and vacationed in a house on Lake Eufala in Alabama, built a house on Lake Blackshear in Cordele, Georgia, and enjoyed the “Venture Out” home in Panama City Beach, Florida. She loved to travel and would often just get in her car and go wherever she wanted, often to Texas to visit extended family. Later in life, after retirement, Mrs. Allene enjoyed many hours with her family and friends, telling stories of her life, growing up in Texas picking cotton and working on the family farm with her siblings, moving to Georgia and creating a loving and encouraging environment for her children and grandchildren, and thanking God for the wonderful life he allowed her to live for nearly one-hundred years. She was a Baptist. Mrs. Allene was preceded in death by her parents; her loving and devoted husband of forty-eight years, Morgan Mitchell Bray; two brothers; two sisters; and a son, Charles Wallace Bray. Left to cherish the memories they made with Mrs. Allene are her caring and attentive daughter, Fay Barfield of Perry; her grandchildren, Chad Moate and Dena McAtee; three great-grandchildren, Chasady “Chassy” Moate, Breanna McAtee, and Justin Singleton; two great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews. Condolences for the family may be left in the online guestbook at www.watsonhunt.com. Watson-Hunt Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.

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ALLENE BRAY

July 1, 1924 - July 25, 2023