Obituary of Rea Rita Gremillion

Rae Gremillion Obituary

Rae Rita Gremillion was born August 5, 1931 in Alexandria, Louisiana to Ernest E. Gremillion and Clemence Crochet Gremillion.  She died in Groves on August 27, 2019.  We were fortunate that God let us have her for 88 years, 3 weeks and 2 days.

She was predeceased by her parents, a brother, Ronald Jules Gremillion and a nephew, Joe William Gremillion.

RaeRae, as she was fondly called by all who knew her, graduated from Providence Academy in Alexandria in 1949 after which she and “Brother” (Jim) went to Louisiana College in Pineville for three semesters, then transferred to Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.  There she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. 

She began her teaching career at the College of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.   A lifelong teacher, she continued teaching in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at St. Charles Academy and Lake Charles High School.  After five years of teaching at the high school level, she decided to further her education, earned her Master’s degree in Education and moved up to college teaching.  She went back to Northwestern and in 1961, she earned that degree. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Beaumont, Texas to her last job at Lamar University.   There she enriched the lives of countless students for the next thirty-five years, until retirement.  At Lamar, she was instrumental in building the women’s basketball program, her first love.  She became involved with Delta Psi Kappa, the professional fraternal organization for Kinesiology. She also taught folk dance, tennis and swimming among other sports.

After forty-three years of professional service in education, she retired to her little slice of heaven – Ivanhoe, Texas. There she enjoyed patrolling the lake in her “official job” of making sure the local Ivanhoe boating rules and the official Texas boating laws were observed.  You could find her on the lake in her pontoon boat, the Cajun Queen, riding up and down Lake Charmaine enjoying the water and keeping everybody safe.  She was also very active in the Ladies Club of Ivanhoe, holding many offices through the years.  She was a lifelong Catholic and a member of Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Woodville.

She will be sorely missed by her brother, Jim and her sister, Cleo.  Although she never had children of her own, she was the “bonus Mom” to her nephews, Bill, Jimmy, Chuck and Craig and her niece Christa.  Then along came Cleo’s blended family of 2 more nieces, Donna and Denise and a nephew Kyle.  From these wonderful children, she became a great aunt to 9 more nieces and 9 more nephews.  Then she became great-great aunt to fourteen more little girls and seven more little boys with the last little boy being born on the day she died.  She will be lovingly remembered by all these children as their fun loving Aunt RaeRae.  She will also be remembered by countless friends who loved her dearly.  She was an inspiration and mentor to countless students during her long teaching career.  She leaves behind many cousins in Louisiana, Florida and California.  We are all more than happy that God let us have her for 88 years.

We would be remiss if we did not thank the wonderful staff at Magnolia Manor: Brent, her day nurse, Nici, her evening nurse and Josh, her weekend nurse, Christi Jones, her nurse from Kindred Hospice and all the wonderful aides that took such great care of her.  Thank you so much.

The celebration of her life will be at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church at 1601 N. Pine Street (Hwy 287), Woodville, Texas, on September 28, 2019, at 1 pm.

Although she loved flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association in her name, at ALZ.org or 225 N. Michigan Ave., floor 17, Chicago, IL, or to Our Lady of the Pines, Woodville, will be appreciated.