The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Nova Dolores Hall, (also known as Mimi and Toopie to many), lifelong resident of Orange, passed away Tuesday, July 16, at her home. This date was also the anniversary of marriage to her beloved husband, it would have been their 62nd.

Funeral services will be Saturday, July 20, at 2:00 PM at First United Pentecostal Church in Orange. Officiating will be Pastor Gary P. Wheeler. Interment will follow at Orange Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Family will receive friends from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Friday at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.

Nova was born in Fields, La. on Oct. 9, 1932, to Glenn and Elsie (Carter) Smith.

She worked as a bookkeeper for 25 years for the Department of Agriculture, and eventually retired from The Horseman’s Store in Orange. She was an avid reader who also enjoyed the daily crossword puzzle and ”Jumble” each morning in her paper; she loved playing word games daily on Pogo. She also loved to garden, bird watch, emailing and Facebooking with her friends. She was incredibly tech savvy.

She was a devout member of her church and especially enjoyed her prayer group and Sunday service with Brother Wheeler. She had an extraordinary relationship with the Lord. Countless people far and wide called upon Mimi for prayer because there was just something about her prayers that made you know they were being heard - almost as if she had a direct line to God.

She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, A.R. Hall; brother, Ronnie, and sister, Willa Glyn Alleman.

Those left to cherish her memory are her daughter Sheri Scalise and husband Frank; her beloved grandchildren, Tony and Lauren Scalise, all from Houston; brother, Rayford Clark of Florida; and nephew Glenn Jeter and wife, Vickie.

Serving as pallbearers will be Larry Hammett, Larry Mayfield, Glenn Jeter, Zach Jeter, Michael Sutton and Wes Watkins. Honorary pallbearers are Gregory Willis and Ben Collins.

The family would like to send a special thank you to Mollie Willis and Jimmie Hunt, the entire First Church family and especially the YAH (Young at Heart) prayer group. Nova would also like to honor the Southeast Texas Hospice Staff for their care during the last days of her life.

She was a loving mother, grandmother and friend and will be missed dearly by everyone who knew her.