The Celebration of Life for Mrs. Ethel Neal, 97, of Port Arthur, TX, will be Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 2pm at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Orange.
Rites of Christian Burial will follow in Magnolia Memorial Gardens under the direction of Sparrow Funeral Home.
No visitation is scheduled.
Ethel Evon Neal was born in Newton, Texas on April 16, 1926, to Cleveland and Effie (Wagner) Burnham. She was the third child of seven children and grew up in Newton.
Ethel was baptized at Liberty Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. A. L. Davis. She attended Baptist Young People’s Union and prayer meetings.
The church is a part of the Liberty Community where her father and mother started the main settlement there.
She graduated from Liberty High School in 1942.
Ethel left home at the age of 18 to live in Orange, TX. She worked several jobs in Orange and married Bob Neal in 1946. To them a child was born, Marjorie Etta Neal, in 1949.
Ethel became a member of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. Walter J. Clark. She was a faithful member and enjoyed the fellowship. She continued to be faithful to her church under the leadership of current pastor, Rev. C.W. Crawford.
She was preceded in death by her parents and husband.
She passed October 25, 2023, in Port Arthur, TX.
Left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Marjorie Neal Brown of Port Arthur, TX, two sisters, Marylon Byrd of Orange, and Frances Daniels of Newton, one brother, Grover Burnham of Newton, and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.
Social Media