Funeral services were held Saturday, April 18, 2015, at Mt. Bethel Ministries in Bassfield, for Mrs. Gladys Vanilla Dow Lee, 85, who died Wednesday, April 15, at Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesburg.

Rev. Alton Carson officiated with interment following in the Sweetwater CME Church Cemetery. Johnson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Gladys Lee was born to the late Rufus Dow and Oral Stovall in Brookhaven. She was married to Sgt. Robert E. Lee and to this union eight children were born. She was a military wife and LPN. After living 31 years in the Washington, DC, area, she returned to Bassfield with her husband and sons, Jerome and Randy. She was a member of Mt. Bethel Ministries.

She was preceded in death by sons, Robert E. Lee, II, Micheal Lee, Randolph K. Lee; one daughter, Tina Bell; one sister, Alice Jeter; step-mother, Margaret Dow; and one brother, Willie Dow.

She is survived by one brother, Rufus (Irma) Dow, Jr. of Brookhaven; sisters, Delores Ashley and Mary El-Amin of Fort Worth, TX, Myrtis Holmes, Mary (Harold) Rowe, Marilyn (Jimmy) Harris and Phyllis Strauthers and Annie Smith of Brookhaven; three daughters, Ollie (Anthony) Cuttingham of Washington, DC, Verna (Paul) Sidbury of Atlanta, GA, Jacqueline Lee of Suitland, MD; one son, Jerome Lee of Bassfield.