Rebecca Ann Gay

Beckie will be honored by a Celebration of Life at Valhalla Funeral Home on Winchester Road in Huntsville, Alabama, on June 16th, 2026, at 2:00 PM. Dr. Doug Hibbard, Senior Pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Crossett, Arkansas, will officiate the celebration. Stan Mann, from Florence, Alabama, will be the soloist.

"Beckie" was born April 21, 1947, in Russellville, Alabama. Jerry and Beckie first met after Sunday School in Birmingham in 1965 and fell in love almost immediately. She and her husband recently celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on June 9.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Jerry A. Gay, son Jared Chadwick Gay of New Market, Alabama, and granddaughter Madalaine Helene (Lainey) Gay of Collierville, Tennessee, daughter Jennifer Rebecca Woitesek (Michael), grandsons Cotton Anderson Woitesek and Lincoln Pierce Woitesek of Hernando, Mississippi, and a host of relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Emitt and Velva Orr; one brother, Eddie Darrell Orr (Yvonne Orr Spaulding), of Birmingham, Alabama.

Beckie led a successful life having retired from public school administration, retired as the assistant manager of the world's busiest Compass Bank, was a hospice manager in Arkansas, and finally retired as a successful realtor. She and her husband traveled extensively, including 29 countries, 40 states and also sailed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Among her various accomplishments, Beckie was the featured speaker for the Brazilian Baptist Convention's Women's Conference in Goiania, Goias, Brazil in 2006.

She was a regularly featured scrapbook teacher on KTHV channel 11 in Little Rock, Arkansas, for several years. She shared her wealth of information about the world with others at every opportunity that came her way. Her family describes her as being a truly southern lady, beautiful, graceful, always genuine, kind, and thoughtful of others. She walked and talked with God in her everyday life.

For fifty-eight years she served as an inspiring ambassador as a minister's wife and was eager to tell what Jesus had done in her life to anyone who would listen. She also used music to minister to others. Her singing voice was naturally pure, and she often sang solos and duets with her husband. She will surely be missed by her family and friends but her legacy and the memories we made with her will last us a lifetime.