Lavonne D LaCoste

Mary LaVonne “Vonnie” LaCoste, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend was welcomed into the kingdom of heaven on October 10 following a characteristically courageous and hard-fought battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 82. Born the sixth of seven children on April 9, 1936, in Jay, Florida to Andrew and Lilly Mae Dunsford, Vonnie had fond memories of her childhood where she helped pick cotton in her sharecropper father’s fields and learned to cook biscuits when she was so little she had to pull up a chair to stand on beside her mother. She was raised in both Jay and Century and attended Century High School, where she met the love of her life, Melvin LaCoste. At 16, she married Melvin and they shared 61 years of love, laughter, tears and joy before he passed away in 2014. Melvin attended apprenticeship school and learned to be an electrician. The trade took the young couple from Pensacola to New York City in the early 1950s where a teenaged Vonnie who had never been to a city bigger than Pensacola learned to navigate Manhattan. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, they made their home where work took them: Utah, Idaho, California, Texas and Birmingham, Ala. Vonnie never forgot the adventures their travels yielded, nor the friends they met along the way. But home for her was always Florida and she was never completely content until she was there. Vonnie worked as a waitress as a young woman, and later at Monsanto, but her true calling was motherhood and she was never so happy as when she had a baby to tend to, whether it was one of her own four children, her many nieces and nephews, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Babies and small children gravitated to her; she could soothe the fussiest and calm the most temperamental. While adults might try her patience, she had an endless supply for children, and never seemed to tire when taking care of them. Beautiful, feisty, smart, funny—Vonnie was an introvert in an extravert’s body. She was happy to be alone with her nose buried in a book, but could be the life of the party telling stories and jokes. She took pride in keeping an immaculate home, cooking Southern food that could rival any five-star chef, and providing common sense advice and a sympathetic ear in equal measure to her children. She and Melvin were dedicated members of Smyrna Baptist Church for more than four decades and their church family was a constant anchor in their life. Vonnie enjoyed traveling with her husband and with her beloved late sister, Betty Fuller, and especially loved the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. She loved country music artists like George Jones, Johnny Horton, Conway Twitter and Loretta Lynn and sang their songs to generations of children as she rocked them to sleep. But to her no one sang as sweetly as her own Melvin and she could never reconcile herself to being separated from him, even if temporarily. Those who love her are rejoicing in their reunion. Vonnie was a matriarch of a massive extended family, all with personal memories of how she touched their lives. She will be remembered for her beauty—both inside and out—her fierce loyalty, her strong faith, her tender heart, and her passionate love for her husband and family.

Tributes

Lavonne D LaCoste

April 9, 1936 - October 10, 2018