Valma Stein Mosby's Obituary
Valma Stein Mosby July 30, 1929-November 27, 2014Obituary She was born Valma Elise Stein, from the union of Elijah Townsend Stein, of Mt. Enterprise, Texas, and Willie Tony Hawkins, of Lanesville, Texas. Valma was born in Mt. Enterprise, Texas, on July 30, 1929. Townsend and Willie had two other children. Valma’s sister, Lajoie Stein Bradley, of Columbus, Georgia, and Billy Gene Stein, of Houston, Texas, her brother, who predeceased her in death. Valma and her family were members of the Walnut Grove CME (Colored Methodist Episcopal) Church, in Mt. Enterprise, Texas. After completing high school in Mt. Enterprise, she attended Texas College, a CME historically black college in Tyler, Texas. She was crowned homecoming queen while there and won a beauty pageant where she proudly rode in a parade down the main thoroughfare, in a convertible festooned with her title, Ms. Amnegro. Valma was forced to return to the farm to help pick cotton before she finished college. During this time she met Cleophas Mosby, of Garrison, Texas, who trained at Montford Pt., North Carolina, and was one of the first African Americans to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. He predeceased her in death. Valma became a more beautiful flower after her union with Cleophas. Miraculous petals fell from her in the form of, Sharon Bernadette, Deborah Fredene, and Reginald Rolando Mosby. The family moved from Houston, Texas to San Diego, California in 1955. Valma was confronted with latent segregation in housing and employment, not unlike the conditions she thought she had left behind in Texas. She became a member of Calvary Baptist Church shortly after arriving in San Diego, and remained there until she became a member of Mt. Erie Baptist Church, under the leadership of the Reverend Walter G. Wells, where she remained a member until her passing. She worked at Marston’s Department Store on 5th Avenue in downtown San Diego, and later at the Broadway, in the Fashion Valley Mall. She worked at San Diego Gas & Electric until she retired in 1992. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in February 2014, and lost her valiant battle with the disease on November 27, 2014. Valma is survived by her daughter, Sharon B. Majors-Lewis, and her husband, Eric Lewis, of Chula Vista, California, Sharon’s sons, Dennis S. Ellis, of Los Angeles, California, and Devin G. Majors, and his wife Sheneka P. Oaks Majors of San Diego, California, and their children, Tyshun L. Oaks, Tyrah L. Majors, Devin G. Majors, Jr., and Victoria M. Majors; her daughter, Deborah F. Mosby, of Inglewood, California; her son Reginald Rolando Mosby, of San Diego, California, and his son, Reginald Ryan Mosby. All of them referred to Valma affectionately as “Grammy.”She is also survived by her nieces, Marva D. Bradley Peters, her husband, Vernon Peters, and their daughter, Eryn L. Peters, of Chester, Virginia; Lisa K. Sullivan, of Evans, Georgia, and her son, Reginald G. Sullivan, II, of Statesboro, Georgia; her nephew Allan Kevin Stein, his wife LaTerria B. Smith Stein, and their son Evan G. Stein, of Mansfield, Texas, her niece, Sonya Y. Stein of Houston, Texas, and many other relatives. Valma was deeply loved and will be dearly missed, but all of her family and friends are comforted by the undeniable fact that she lived a life that for certain has her dwelling in the house of the Lord forever.
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