REIDSVILLE - Mrs. Helen Rosina Graves, age 96, peacefully departed this life to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Sunday, April 20, 2025 at Morningside House Senior Living in Waldorf, MD.

Public viewing will begin on Friday, May 2, 2025 from 12 until 7 p.m. at McLaurin-Harris Funeral Home, 721 East Morehead Street, Reidsville, NC.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 11 a.m. from the Elm Grove Baptist Church, 1302 US-29 Business, Reidsville, NC. The family visitation will take place at 10:30 a.m. Pastor, C. Bradley Hunt, II, eulogist.

The committal and interment will follow in the Elm Grove Church Cemetery, Reidsville, NC.

All other times, the family will receive friends at the residence, 758 Knowles Road, Reidsville, NC.

She was born in Rockingham County North Carolina on January 18, 1929 to Savannah Richmond and Joseph Graves, who both preceded her in death.

She was the eighth child of eleven siblings.

Helen came to know the Lord at an early age. She was educated in the Rockingham County School System. On May 7, 1949 she was united in holy matrimony to her first and forever love Percy Allen Graves. From their union 2 daughters (Hervoline and Yolanda) were born. Helen was a dedicated housewife who also worked as a domestic caretaker and federal government employee of the State Department as an Elevator Operator providing 13 years of services before retiring.

In 1991, they moved to Reidsville, North Carolina. In search of a church home, Helen was led to Elm Grove Baptist Church where she became a devoted member. She regularly attended services until her health began to fail. She loved the Lord and was steadfast and unwavering in her faith.

Helen was reserved, relentless, feisty and loyal. She will be remembered for her strength, resilience, speaking her unfiltered truth and generous spirit. She was quiet but had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh. She found joy in life's simple pleasures. She was an excellent cook and an avid seamstress who could make anything. She enjoyed caring for and spending time with her best friend/Husband Percy, daughters, grand and great-grandchildren. She was known for her fruit cakes, fried pies, sweet potato pie, oatmeal cookies and apple pie. She could be found sitting in her favorite chair watching Judge Judy,

old westerns or game shows, reading and doing word search puzzles. She also loved planting flowers, feeding the cats, and driving her John Deer lawn mower.

Helen was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Percy Allen Graves; ten siblings: Althea Turner, Beatrice Blackwell, Ashley Graves, Olivia Howard, James Graves, Velma Garrett, Joseph Graves, Leathea Mae Turner, Walter Norris Graves and William Graves.

Her memory will forever be cherished in the lives of her beloved children: Hervoline Pearson and Yolanda Graves; grandchildren: Allen (Jazzmine Compton) Burrell, Michael (Misty) Pearson Jr., Ryan (Keona) Pearson, Jonathan Monroe, Dominick (Tori) Mitchell; great-grandchildren: Jordan, Justin, Curryn, Michael Pearson III, Jayden, Zoe, Milani, Mathai, Kairos, Keitaro, Bryce, Calvin and Halo; sister-in-law Mary S. Graves; godson Don Reid and a host of loving nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Service by McLaurin-Harris