Willa Mae Yates

Mother Willa Mae Yates, affectionately known as “Mae Doll” and “Aunt Mae,” transitioned peacefully from Earth to Heaven on Friday, March 28, 2025, while hospitalized at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia. She was born in the rural town of Hobgood, NC, to the late Lilton Cross, Sr. and Celloustine Sherrod Cross. She was one of 12 children from this union. She was married on June 2, 1962, to the late James Ray Yates, and from that union was born one daughter, Bridgette Yates.

She was educated in Hobgood, NC, and Portsmouth Public School Systems. In her late teen years, she went to live with an uncle in New Jersey. She was an industrious person who held many positions in her life, including a cook, custodian, factory worker, and even a certified nursing assistant, but her passion for cooking and baking outshined all of her many talents. Her last place of employment as a factory worker was at Sterling Plastics in New Jersey, from where she retired in 1989. Her impeccable style and taste in clothing always impressed, showcasing a truly refined fashion sense.

She would often come to Virginia to see her mother who was saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost. Her mother would say to her, “You are too good-hearted to be lost!” Those words gripped her heart. One Sunday at Pilgrim Tabernacle Church in New Jersey, she surrendered her life to the Lord and was filled with the Holy Ghost in 1982. She lived a life that honored the Lord until the day He called her Home. At Pilgrim, whatever her hands found to do, she did it, including serving as Choir Director, Sunday School Teacher, Church Secretary, and overseer of fund-raising projects.

She later moved her membership to Second Full Gospel Church, where she served as Missionary President and Choir Director and started a nursing home ministry until she relocated to Virginia in 1999.

She became a member of Faith Tabernacle Apostolic Holiness Church in Chesapeake, Virginia, in 2003. Working in the church was most fulfilling to her. She took pride in planning and organizing events in support of building fund efforts, pastoral care, and serving as the Pastor’s Aide President and Church Mother. She was a faithful member who attended services both when she felt good and when she didn’t. She was a woman of prayer and initiated noonday prayer services on every second and fourth Saturday. She was such a woman of wisdom and possessed a kind and gentle spirit. Because of her non-judgmental demeanor, young people always gravitated to her. To know her is to love her!

She was preceded in death by her brothers Milton and Earl Cross, Sr., Shareef and Lilton Kareem Abdullah, and her sisters: Inease Smith and Minnie Ruth Briggs.

She leaves to cherish fond memories: her brothers: Robert and Rogers (Dee) Cross; her daughters, Rita and Bridgette Yates; her granddaughter whom she reared, Bernadette Yates; 7 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends. Mother Willa Mae Yates will surely be missed but never forgotten.