Teresa Jean Echols Bray
August 28, 1954 ~ July 27, 2007
Resided in:
Leicester, NC
Asheville Butterfly Trail
Teresa Jean Echols Bray, 52, of 35 Golden Lane, Leicester, went to be with her Lord on Friday, July 27, 2007, at her home.
Mrs. Bray was born in Washington, GA, and was a graduate of the Bob Jones University Secretarial School in Greenville, SC. She served as church secretary and secretary to the pastor at Temple Baptist Church for the past 10 years.
Surviving are her husband, Pastor Randy Bray; two sons, Jonathan David Bray of Knoxville, TN and Charles Cassidy Bray and his wife, Erin, of Richmond, VA; her parents, James and Martha Matthews Echols of Washington, GA; one sister, Sonya Pilgrim and her husband, Randy, of Thompson, GA; and one brother, Dennis Echols and his wife, Angie, of Winterville, GA.
A funeral service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Sunday at Temple Baptist Church with Pastor Randy Bray officiating.
Her family will receive friends at the church from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Sunday.
A second service is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Monday at Washington Chapel, Washington, GA, followed by burial at Resthaven Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Gymnasium Fund of Temple Baptist Church, 985 ½ Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC 28806.
Dear Pastor Bray and Family:
Words can never express the emotion we feel upon Teresa’s passing. She has been such a major part of our lives. We love her so very much and are already missing her tremendously. What a blessing to know she is at home with our loving Lord and Saviour, free from pain, totally restored and visiting with all the Saints. Yet, in our flesh we will miss her tender loving heart, sweet smile and unending compassion she showed to us all. What a testament she was to the Proverbs 30 woman. I will so miss my phone conversations with her and the ability she had to always encourage and lift me up. Our prayer is for all of you to experience the comfort of our God in the grief that lies ahead. May He hold you up when you are low, meet your needs before you realize them and grant you peace that passes all understanding. You all mean so very much to us and we are thankful to have you in our lives. We love you, will continue to lift you up in prayer and are here if you need anything at all.
Lovingly your brother and sister in Christ,
Tony and Frances Hensley
Dear Bray Family:
We wish to express our heartfelt sympathy in the passing of Teresa. Words seem so inadequate when we know the pain and grief you feel is so overwhelming due to your loss. May God grant you wisdom, comfort, grace and sure passage through your grief and may His mighty arms be wrapped around you the whole way. To honor Teresa, we should live each day praying for our Lord to come swiftly and in the midst of our wait tell the good news of Jesus and His salvation to everyone we can.
You all will remain in our prayers and thoughts.
In Him,
Chris and Hollie Hensley
We wish to express our deepest sympathies to the entire Bray family in this time of loss. God’s ways are not our ways, and He leaves many of His reasons in the darkness. But even as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we are praying that you will sense that the Lord is with you and that His rod and staff would bring comfort to you.
Grace and peace to you all,
Matthew and Kimberly Hoskinson
Pastor Bray and family,
We are sorry to hear about your loss. Mrs.Bray was a special lady and will be sadly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time and always.
…for the Lord shall be thine
everlasting light, and the days
of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isaiah 60:20
May you remember always
that, for every sorrow,
there is comfort…
for every sadness,
there is healing…
for each loss–
the promise of new life.
With Sympathy,
The Sluder Family
Mike, Nancy, Chris and Holly
Pastor, David, Cassiday and Erin. Mr. and Mrs. Echols,Hannah and the extended family:
With Heartfelt Sympathy we are thinking of each of you at this time and extending heartfelt understanding and sympathy. God blessed you with an ‘angel’ who loved her Lord and Savior and served him in so many ways. It is hard to express what is on our heart at this time.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE in sadness, YOU ARE NOT ALONE in grieving, YOU ARE NOT ALONE in missing what you have knows….As friends and family gather, In the time that will come after. Please, always know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Loving hearts are with you to share your sorrow…and to support you in the days ahead.
Affectionately,
Richard and Carolyn
Pastor Bray and Family,
You and Teresa mean so much to our family. I can only imagine the look on her face when she seen JESUS.We love you all very much and are praying for you.
Randy, David and Cassidy,
It was with deep regret that we learned of Teresa’s death. We understand she had fought her battle for some time. My mom died last year after an eight year battle with cancer so we know how difficult and heart breaking it is to watch someone we love go through suffering. We remember good times with you at ACS, traveling to tennis matches and having good Christian fellowship. Teresa was a sweet person with a quiet, gentle manner and it was evident she loved her ‘guys.’ We know you will miss her and we share in your sadness. You will be in our prayers for the days ahead. Our sincere sympathy.
Linda and Ruel Parker (Adam and Lydia’s parents)
Pastor Bray,
We wanted you to know that Mrs Teresa was such a blessing to our Life and still is. Her smile and sweet way will always be with us. She will always be a part of Temple School that we will cherish forever. No matter what kind of day I had I could always count on her to give me a warm beautiful smile. Her life ws indeed a testimony and her funeral service was a beautiful testiment to her life on earth. She is the lucky one now…:-)
The Morse family
Dear Randy, David, Cassidy & Erin~
We just wanted to let you know again how much we loved Teresa and how much we love all of you. Words failed us in the emotion of the day, but we wanted to convey to you how you and Teresa were such an answer to prayer in our lives as we prayed for a family to love our daughter as much as we do and to include her in such a special way. The words that Teresa spoke at Erin’s bridal shower, as well as her continual outpouring of love, affirmed in our hearts how much Teresa truly loved her and we could not have asked for a better mother-in-law for Erin. Of course our only regret is that they had such a short time to truly enjoy this special relationship. Someone once said, ‘We are given many precious gifts as we go through life. Some we are allowed to enjoy for a long time’?others only briefly. But each gift has the power to change and enrich us, to make us better human beings.’? Truly Teresa was such a gift and her life has enriched many others. There are no words, we know, that can truly comfort you. We know only God can give the peace that you seek, and our prayer is that you will be comforted daily by His love, His Word, and His people. With love~
Praying God will give you strength at this time.
Pastor Bray. Our family and our church family (Mt Pisgah Baptist] will continue to pray for you. The sweet Holy Spirit we felt during the service yesterday was very special. And what AMAZING GRACE!!!! We serve such an awesome God. We feel honored that God put our families together. Our sweet little Asley made sure your lil gal was always mentioned during prayer requests at our church.Please feel free to call upon us for anything you might need.
Pastor Bray and Family, We want to let you and your family know that our family and church have had and will continue to have you all in our prayers. Mrs. Bray was so special to Tayler and McKenzie. She was so compassionate to Tayler when she was going thru her times of severe headaches.Tayler would always tell me Mrs. Bray knew when I was sick and she was there for her.I as a mother who appreciated her kindness and Christian love never got to tell her what a special person I thought she was. Please know our thoughts and prayers are with you.May the Lord send his comforting spirit to you all.
The Chandlers
Joey ,Melissa,Tayler,Mckenzie,Avry and Parker
We are praying for all of you! How I will miss the phone calls with Teresa. She was so precious & such a dear friend. All of you mean so much to us. Wishing we could be there. Thank you for calling to let us know she is with the Lord. We love you all!
Dear Pastor Bray,
I was so sorry to read of your wife’s passing. I loved listening to your radio program every morning while I was driving to work. Although we have never met, I feel as if I know you personally because of that program. Your inspirational messages made my day brighter each morning. May God hold you in His living arms and give you the Grace to overcome this great loss. God bless you and your children.