Myree L. Stuart of Hayes, born June 22, 1935, died Oct. 6, 2014.
She was born as Edna Myree Harrell in North Carolina. Myree was the seventh of 13 children born to Jethro Harrell and Edna Bailey Harrell. They moved to Poquoson, Va., where Myree grew up and graduated from Poquoson High School. Soon after, Myree ventured north to New Jersey where she met and married William C. Lawler with whom she had two children. In 1963 Mr. Lawler succumbed to cancer, and Myree turned to her secretarial skills to support her family. She worked for Ingersoll-Rand for two years before relocating back to Virginia to be closer to family. Myree settled in Gloucester, Va.
She became an executive secretary for General Electric during the Viking Project and was recognized for her contribution to the Space Program. At night she studied for and achieved her Real Estate license and soon began working for Glo-Co Realty. She became a broker and started her own company, Countree Properties. Myree met fellow realtor and forester Edward Stuart Jr. whom she married in 1976. After retiring her own company, Myree continued to work in support of her husband’s career from the comfort of her beloved waterfront home. It was there she spent her final days being attended to by her devoted niece, Mrs. Ross Cottee, to whom she referred as “my Pat.”
Myree is predeceased by Ed Stuart, her husband of 38 years. She is survived by her children, Victoria Lawler Gould of Denver, Colo., and Beth Lawler Emmons of Atlanta, Ga.; her grandchildren, Nathaniel Cajka of Memphis, Tenn., Hunter Clements of Denver, Colo., Keath Emmons of Biloxi, Miss., and Mason Clements of Denver, Colo. She is also survived by her beloved sisters, Ethel Perkins of Coventry, R.I., and Jean Lindholm of Coos Bay, Ore.; and also by her brother, Jackson Harrell who resides in Minnesota. She will be missed dearly by all, including her faithful dog Mary.
A memorial service conducted by the Rev. Arthur Wolz Jr. was held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, at Hogg Funeral Home, Gloucester Point. Inurnment was private.