Mary Ruth Brower Massey

Loving Reflections

A time to be born…

Mrs. Mary Ruth Brower Ray Massey was born March 30, 1931. She was the 13th child born to the late James Wesley and Nannie (Harrington) Brower.

A time to live…

She married the late Johnnie C. Ray and to this union 6 children were reared. A 7th child, Olympia Ray, died in infancy. Their remaining 6 children are Johnny Ray, Azor Brower, Joerethia Davis, Ernest Ray, Louis Rodney Ray, and Aljuana Ray Lee.

She later married the late Marshall Massey and to this union they raised her precious grandson, Wayne Goins.

A time to plant…

Sister Massey was born and raised in Moore County, NC. She attended Moore County Public Schools and lived in Jackson Springs, NC until 1976 when she and Brother Marshall moved to New York. While in New York Sister Massey earned a CNA Certificate and she was a private house keeper. In 1988 Sister Massey and Brother Marshall relocated to Maryland where she began working at Doctors Hospital until her retirement in 1996.

Sister Massey (along with her late husband, our usher, and church custodian Brother Marshall Massey) joined Gethsemane on November 11, 1996. Sister Massey always had a pleasant spirit and many loved her.

Sister Massey was a faithful member of Gethsemane and would do all she could for the good of the church. She faithfully attended church services, Sunday school and Bible Study and she was a faithful member of the Missionary Society. As the Missionaries would minister at Largo Landing Fellowship House (Assisted Living Facility), Sister Massey provided for the residents by cooking, serving, and cleaning when Gethsemane fellowshipped there on the 4th Sundays. Also, Sister Massey loved the Women’s Ministry and was very active in that organization.

On June 19, 2011, Sister Mary Massey was recognized as one of two Senior Mothers of the Church. She shared this recognition with her beloved sister-in-law, the late Deaconess Mary Brower.

Sister Massey remained a faithful member of Gethsemane Baptist Church beyond the January 9, 2014 homegoing service for her husband, Brother Marshall Massey.

A time to mourn…

Sister Massey, surrounded by loved ones, peacefully entered into eternal rest on Friday, January 20, 2017 at 8:10am at Reid Heart Center at Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, daughter, a granddaughter, and 14 siblings.

She leaves to cherish her memory 6 children Johnny Ray (Margarita) of Fairbanks, Alaska, Azor Brower of Forrestville, Maryland, Joerethia Davis of Concord, NC, Ernest Ray (Talla) of Wheeling, Illinois, Louis Rodney Ray (JuLana) of Sims, Illinois, Aljuana Ray Lee of Jackson Springs, NC, and her grandson, Wayne Goins, of Laurel, Maryland. She further leaves to cherish her memory 26 other grand children, 58 great grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren and her brother Mordecai Brower and sister Clara B. Carver, both of Maryland.