Annise LaRue DeCree, 82, mourned

Surrounded by her loved ones at the time, she was 82 years of age.
Born July 7, 1925 in Emerson, Arkansas to the late Rev. Bennie and Minnie Story, she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Texarkana and enrolled in Tuskegee Institute. She put her studies on hold after marrying the late Edward Bernard Mack and beginning a family.
In 1955, she moved to Los Angeles and became an employee of the Department of Water and Power. In 1964 she met and married the late Neil DeCree to whom she was a loving and devoted wife for 29 years.
Although raised in the CME Church, Mrs. DeCree became a Charter Member to the newly-founded Bryant Temple AME Church in 1968, where she was a member of the first Trustee Board and the first president for “The White Rose Club,” organized by the late Rev. Dr. Verdel Lee Brenson. Her name appears on the cornerstone at Bryant Temple.
DeCree returned to school, graduating in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Home Economics from California State University, Los Angeles, thus enabling her to begin a second career as an elementary school substitute teacher for the LAUSD.
At her passing, she was attending Sunday School and serving as the Class Leader of the July Birthday Club at Phillips Temple CME Church.
A wonderful cook, artist and an outstanding seamstress, she was a thoughtful and loving presence who will be greatly missed by daughters Jennifer (Lee) Howell and Thandisizwe Chimurenga of Los Angeles; son Darryl (Miriam) Mack of Ventura, CA; granddaughters LeAmber Howell of Upper Marlboro, MD and Renee Mack of New York; grandson Dylan Mack of Ventura; sister Jeweldine Hamdani of Decatur, GA; brothers Vancel (Mary Emma) and Bennie (Ethel) Story, Jr., of Los Angeles; several nieces, nephews, cousins and dear friends.