Margie Kay Wilhite
A home-going and celebration of life for Mrs. Margie Kay Wilhite of Downsville will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, August 5, 2021, at Cedar Crest Baptist Church in West Monroe with Pastor Barry Blanton officiating.
Interment will follow at Wilhite Family Cemetery near Downsville under the direction of Griffin Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at Griffin Funeral Home West Monroe. Mrs. Wilhite was born May 26, 1941, in Dallas, and like a dove, flew to her Heavenly home on July 23, 2021, in Downsville, surrounded by her beloved family.
She grew up in Dallas from birth until her family moved to Shreveport in 1956 where she graduated high school. At the age of 18, she married and relocated to Louisiana Polytechnic Institute in Ruston, where her husband attended, and Margie Kay worked at the University.
Upon his graduation, they moved to Huntsville, Ala., for her husband to work for Boeing Space Operations. Later, they moved to Shreveport, West Monroe, and to the Wilhite Community.
There she found peace and joy working in her garden with all her flowers she loved so much. In 1978, Margie Kay and her best friend started a successful wallpapering business they called “The Paper Dolls.”
Years later she attended evening classes at Northeast Louisiana University and graduated in 1993 with her Bachelor of Arts degree.
After that, Margie Kay worked for the Louisiana Office for Handicapped Children in Monroe, and later for Louisiana Office of Medicaid in Farmerville, from which she retired in 2004. Always serving her God, her church and the community, Margie Kay served as the director of Kids Hope for Cedar Crest Baptist Church.
For many years she was involved with the church’s Journey to Bethlehem held during the Christmas season. She was fortunate to travel several times to Bulgaria and Mexico with her church, thanks to the financial support given by her church family.
Margie Kay is preceded in death by her husband, Robert L. Wilhite; her mother and father, Doyce and R.C. Gill; her brother, Gary Gill; mother-in-law, Elsie Wilhite; and father-in-law, Roy (Bill) Wilhite.
Survivors include her daughter, Robbie Wilhite Wheat and Rick Wheat of Ruston; her son, Rob Wilhite and fiancé LeAnn Laster of Wilhite; her sister, Ann Gill Shaw and Tom Shaw of Tulsa, Okla. As many of you know, Margie Kay was nicknamed “Benji” by her grandchild, Corie, a name that Margie Kay loved.
She is survived by her beloved grandchildren, Valerie Kay Wheat Meshell and Chris Meshell of Crownsville, Md.; Victoria Wheat Grogan and Jeremy Grogan of Austin, Corie Wilhite Acevedo and husband, Cruze of Boonesville, Mo.; Madeline (Maddie) Wilhite Lake and wife, R. Noel of McKinney, Texas; and Roy Wilhite of McKinney, Texas; her precious great-grandchildren, Lucy Kay Acevedo, Russell Acevedo, Charlotte Meshell, and Luca Grogan; sister-in-law Frances Anderson and Van Anderson of Shreveport; also survived by three nieces, two nephews, seven great-nieces, eight great-nephews, three great-great-nieces, two great-great-nephews, a loving uncle; her very dear friends of 50 years whom she referred to as her “gang,” who are all as much family as the term implies, Anne Paylor, Ashley Pridgen, Donna Allen, Nell McCurry, Sandy Hawkins, and Trisha Thompson; also survived by a host of extended family and friends.
If your heart leads you, Margie Kay wished donations be made to Cedar Crest Baptist Church Missions at 3245 Arkansas Rd., West Monroe, LA 71291 or Professional Hospice Care at 100 S. Trenton St., Ruston, LA 71270.
