VISITATION:
Friday, November 10, 2017   10 am - 6 pm
Emanuel Funeral Home - Palestine, 1721 W. Oak Street, Palestine, TX  75801

Final arrangements made by Emanuel Funeral Home - Palestine, 1721 W. Oak Street, Palestine, TX  75801
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mrs. Velma M. Gholston, age 97, passed away peacefully October 31, 2017, at Elkhart Care Center in Elkhart, Texas. She was born September 20, 1920 in Tennessee Colony, Texas to Katherine M. Sanders and Clint Morrison.

She joined St. John Baptist Church at an early age and enjoyed walking to church with her beloved Grandpa William Sanders who taught Sunday School. She spoke (often annoyingly) of the "grass burr" and "bull nettle" patches through which she and "Papa" walked to get to church for Sunday School and Sunday Services. She attended public school in the St. John and Massey Lake communities.

She worked at Colbert's Department Store in Amarillo, Texas, for many years, displaying a unique talent in fashion display advertisement for the store, until she retired and moved back to Palestine, Texas, in March 1977. Velma truly lived life to the fullest, through simple pleasures: knitting, fishing, quilting and chatting with friends and family on the telephone, and cooking for the entire family at Thanksgiving and Christmas (Her savory "Texas Toast Raisin Pudding" will be truly missed), and spending time with her cousins and friends.  She had an uncanny ability to reach people in a deep and positive way.

Preceding her in death are her husband, Leon Gholston; her mother, Katherine M. Franklin Kelley; her father, Clint Morrison; her cherished Grandpa, William "Papa" Sanders, her brother, Willie Wade Young, and her sister, Gladys M. Howard; her cherished Uncle Paris Young to whom she lovingly referred as her "Uncle-Daddy", and Aunt Susie Young, to whom she lovingly referred as "Sook" because of their caring, affectionate attention to her during her young life.

She leaves to cherish her memory family and many friends on both the Morrison (Donnell) and the Young side of her family and many others whose lives she touched with her personal gifts.