Etta Mae Manns

Mrs. Etta Mae Manns
October 21, 1930 ~ May 8, 2023

Our loving Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Great Great Grandmother, Cousin, Sister-in-law, Aunt, Friend and Servant of God Etta Mae Reliford-Manns,  was born in Gregg County Texas, on October 21,1930 to, parents, Homer and Mandie Brown Reliford. She was the oldest of 12 children born to, and blessed, by Papa Homer’s and Momma Mandie’s union. She is the last, of all of them, to leave this earthly existence. She did so by quiet and peaceful transition during her sleep on May 8, 2023.

Etta Mae was educated in the Pleasant Hill Public School System and began serving God at the Pleasant Hill CME Church. Her service to the Lord was forever evident in the love, care and devotion to which everyone who knew her will attest. She was very active and a participant in her church homes including Pleasant Hill CME, Mt Calvary Baptist and the Mt Olive Baptist Church.  She was a member of the Eastern Star, Chair of the MOBC Esther Circle, dedicated deaconess, a choir member, and a MOBC Diamond. Her love for young people also led her to be over the youth department for many years.

She married Leonard Tom (LT) Manns on November 6, 1952. During a prior marriage one son, James Earl Harris who preceded her in death, was born. To the union of LT and Etta Mae, three children, Charles Leanard (wife Norma Jean Scroggins-Manns), Johnny Odis (spouse Scott Linton), and Debra Gail (husband Missidime Davis) were born. Her children and their children were raised with the utmost unconditional love and encouragement. She did everything possible to ensure that they were secure, educated, unafraid and God fearing. Raising children of color going through integration in Longview public schools during the 1960’s had its challenges. But Etta Mae taught her children to seek higher education, have pride in themselves, and she never stopped doing what
she’d been doing before integration when her children were at East Ward Elementary, Maggie B Hudson Jr. High, and Mary C Womack High School. She joined the PTA at Forest Park Middle School where she became the first black woman PTA Secretary in 1969. She joined the PTA at Longview High too, as well as the Lobo Band Boosters, where she became the first black woman Lobo Band Booster Secretary in 1973. She was also the  leader of her community 4H Club where she taught young girls how to sew. Through these years she also started hundreds of other children in Longview on the path to success, while working as a teacher at Happiness Hill Daycare along with Mrs. Essie Reagans and at Preschool Learning Academy was teacher and co-owner with her daughter.

Descendants and relatives beyond her husband and children include, grandchildren, Tony Harris, Monda Harris Bell, Tchoy Harris McClain, Marlon Davis, Anita Manns Arnett, and Misshunna Davis; great grandchildren, Darrielle Petty, DaTavian Bell, Mason Arnett, Maverick Johnson, and Sloane Arnett; great great grandchild, Mina Alani Bell; in-laws, JD Manns, Clara Eiglebiger, Robert and Jewel Faye Manns, Carie Reliford, and Bobby Reliford; and double first cousins, Willie Mae Reliford and Buster Reliford

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