Lois Mildred Gaither, of Statesville, died on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017 at Iredell Memorial Hospital.

She was born in Hartsville, S.C. on July 6, 1939, daughter of the late Weldon Pete and Theola Hamilton Bacote. She attended school in South Carolina, and was a 1959 graduate of Butler High School. She attended cosmetology school in New York. While in South Carolina, she was a member of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.  She left South Carolina and lived in New York, where she met and married her husband, Brady Gaither, in 1961. She relocated to North Carolina in 1965, and joined Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, where she served as an usher. She had worked at J.P. Stevens and Sara Lee as a machine operator.  She loved to play bingo.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Brady Gaither in 2005; 2 siblings, Davie and Willie Bacote.

Survivors: 2 sons, Brady W. (Kimberly) Gaither of Statesville, and Romeo (Joy) Gaither of Yadkinville; adopted son, Kevin Long of East Bend; 2 daughters, Janice (Melwood) Davis and Monique (Tilden) Tolliver of Olin; 2 brothers, Robert (Imogene) Bacote and Harold Bacote, both of Charlotte; 4 sisters, Gladys Anthony of Charlotte, Margaret Watson and Doris (Robert) Tabb, both of Philadelphia, and Francena (Rev. Charles) Washington of South Carolina; 2 sisters-in-law, Jessie Bacote of Charlotte, and Shirley Bacote of Gahanna, Ohio; 17 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; other relatives and friends.

Funeral service will be held Friday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. at Graham Funeral Home in Mocksville. The Rev. Tyrone Redmon will officiate and burial will follow in Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home 30 minutes before the service.

Condolences: www.GrahamFuneralHome.net.