Mattie J. Gee

A celebration of a beautiful life well lived

Mattie Jim (Webb) Gee 106 years old of Boca Raton, Florida went home to be with the Lord January 2, 2020. She is survived by her treasured children, a son, James Gee of Garland, Texas and daughter Diana (Gee) Woods of Boca Raton, Florida. Also surviving are her grandchildren Terry Gee, Vicki (Dustin) Neal, Keri (Robert Moore) England, Kristie England, Lacy (Corey) Siggins. Three great grandchildren Candace (Tony) Cruz, Ray (Doan) Hernandez, and Jonah Baker. Mattie also had three great, great grandchildren Era Moon Hernandez, Hawk Hernandez, and Kherynne Baker. Mattie was loved and cherished by generations of nieces and nephews that came after her.

She is proceeded in death by her beloved husband of 41 years George Malcom Gee and her parents Wiley and Ida Leek (James) Webb. Also proceeding in death were her seven siblings Emaline, Ida May, Wiley, Eliza, Woodrow with Adeline and John in infancy.

A life well lived

Mattie was born April 4, 1913 in Long Island, Alabama near Hogjaw Valley to Wiley and Ida Leek (James) Webb. In 1918 Papa Webb, a coal miner at the time, moved his growing family to the town of Gober in North Texas due to his own health issues associated with his profession. Once rooted in Texas, Papa Webb became a cotton sharecropper where it was the entire family’s responsibility to produce the best possible cotton crop to sustain the family throughout the year. Mattie would later in life often joke about her “cotton pickin knee”.

In 1921, Mattie would lose her beloved mother who was just 41 at the time. She was only eight and the impact of this loss was devastating to the family. Mattie’s sister Ida May would assume the responsibility caring for her siblings and running the household.

At age 10, Mattie would accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She would often tell the story of being baptized at Gober’s gristmill pond while snakes swam nearby. She would spend the remainder of her life loving and serving the Lord. Her love for God was palpable and through that love she would touch, impact and move countless many.

Mattie graduated high school in 1931 as the Salutatorian of her class. While in high school she demonstrated a promising athletic ability by playing basketball, baseball and volleyball.

In 1935 the family left the farm and would move to Dallas for more favorable job opportunities. The Webb siblings would continue to help each other and care for their Papa until his passing in 1939.

Now in East Dallas, Mattie at 25 would continue to live with her sisters Ida May and Eliza while working at the original Wyatt’s Cafeteria. Enter then a dashing young man named Malcom, who would immediately take notice of a beautiful young woman (Mattie) working at Wyatt’s catching his eye and his heart. This would be the beginning of a 41-year love story that would endure the test of time.

The young couple would marry in June 1939 and honeymoon in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1940 they would add to their little family with the addition of their son James and just three years later would come daughter Diana making them a happy little foursome.

They would live in East Dallas, Oak Cliff for some time but later would settle in a small town named Pleasant Grove where they would buy their only family home and live out their life together in that home. This home would be filled with love, laughter and family. They would become Mimi and Papa there and love, encourage and nurture their children and grandchildren in this home.

Malcom would be diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease while still in his early thirties. Mattie gave great love and care to Malcom throughout their life together until his passing in 1980.

Mattie would continue to live in her little wood framed home for another 11 years until selling in 1991 and moving to Florida to join her daughter and family there.

Mimi (Mattie) continued her story with a love for life, God and family. She touched the lives of so many people. She never met a stranger and always had a smile and kind word for those around her. She was a selfless, hardworking individual. Her mission in life was spreading the love of Jesus and that she did with enthusiasm. Her legacy is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 New International Version (NIV)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The American Parkinson Disease Association https://www.apdaparkinson.org