Viola Harrison

VIOLA…….. September 5, 1924 in Bernice, LA a beautiful baby girl was born. Floyd and Mable Singleton welcomed their second daughter whom they named Violet. Violet joined church at a very early age and attended school in that small community until it became necessary for her to drop out of school to help her sharecropper family earn a living working the cotton fields and farming. As a young woman, Violet met her first love Modis Frost and they had one daughter together (Dorothy). She later met and married her husband Arnold Patterson and the family moved to Houston seeking a better life. He started calling Viola instead of Violet and somehow it stuck. She joined Mt. Lebanon Baptist church where she attended and served for a number of years. She worked as a housekeeper for a while but she was always looking to better herself so she got a job as a steam presser in a men’s clothing store, however, this still did not meet the goal she had for herself so she constantly watched the alterations’ person questioning everything she did. The woman finally decided to take her under her wings and taught her that skill. This is what she did until she retired in her sixties. She then decided she would try to fulfill her lifelong goal of getting an education so she went to school to study to get her GED. About fifty years ago, she started attending Friendship Missionary Baptist Church where she met and married her second husband McKinley B. Harrison; they were together for over thirty years until God called him home. Viola always had a positive attitude and a kind word for anyone she met; she also wore that big broad smile and gave it to anyone who needed it. She dearly loved her only child and all the grands, great grands and great-great grands. She also had a great love for the Friendship family, Pastor Sampson and her fellow members. As her steps became slow and labored her mind not as sharp she was determined to serve until she could serve no more. During the last three weeks of her life, God saw her in constant pain and suffering and decided to relieve her of this and He called His good and faithful servant home. God has taken her home so that she could be with Him and rest. Imagine what a celebration went on as she entered those pearly gates. Our hearts will miss you but our souls will rejoice because we know that you are with the Heavenly Father and there you will be always. Sister Harrison was preceded in home going by her husband (McKinley Harrison) both parents (Floyd and Mable Singleton) a brother (Rev. Jimmy Singleton) a sister (Leslie Mae Williams) a grandson (Deacon Kerry Woodley) a nephew (Larry Harper) She leaves to mourn her passing her one and only child Dorothy Woodley, a sister Beatrice Harper granddaughter Michelle, grandson Damon; great-grand children: Erica, Jessica, Deborah, Michael, Yalonda, Queenette, Jarret, Drayton, Damona, Damon, Demauri; great-great children: Kevin Jr., Le’Chelle, Daveon, Arrtemus, Judicael, Carter, Madison, Peyton & Greyson; A devoted step-daughter Mafronia Kelly, A very loving & caring daughter in law and a host of nieces and nephews all of whom she loved as her very own.