Virginia Beach - Alzira “Zizi” Bray Pruitt, 94, passed away Monday, January 26, 2015. She was born September 19, 1920 in Parahiba, Brazil to the late Rev. Antonio and Rosalia de Carvalho. She is predeceased by her first husband, Rev. Richard T. Bray, Jr.; second husband, Willie B. Pruitt; son, William M. Bray; step-son Everett Pruitt; four of her six sisters; and her grandson Michael Grimsley.
She is survived by her son, Thomas C. Bray and wife Cynthia; daughter, Dianne B. Grimsley and husband, David; daughter-in-law, Kay Bray; step-son, Harley Pruitt and wife Jane; two sisters, Helena Carneiro and Cacinha de Carvalho Herzog; seven grandchildren; sixteen great grandchildren; and six great great grandchildren.
Zizi graduated from Agnes Erskine College, in Recife, Brazil. She briefly taught as a first grade school teacher before she met and married a young American soldier, Richard T. Bray, Jr. stationed in Recife during WWII. Zizi worked at various positions during her lifetime. In her early years in North Carolina, while her husband went to college and then four years of seminary, she worked as a mom, pastor’s wife and a scrub nurse in Rex Hospital in Raleigh.
As they moved from the Wake Cross Roads pastorate in North Carolina, to the various pastorates in Virginia, Irvington and Claybrook Baptist Churches in the Northern Neck, Brent-Lox Baptist Church in Chesapeake and Riverdale Baptist Church in Roanoke, Zizi worked as a retail sales clerk and an assistant supervisor of a nursing home. Following her first husband’s death in 1980, Zizi remarried to Willie B. Pruitt in 1991 and spent the next seventeen years enjoying traveling and spending time with her new husband, his family and the all of her grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.
Not only being a minister’s daughter and a minister’s wife, but a true servant of the Lord, Zizi served her Christ with all her heart and soul through her 94 years. She was a Sunday School teacher, local and statewide WMU officer and spoke all over the state of Virginia concerning missions, especially those in Brazil. Through all of her life, no matter what the situation, her Christianity would always shine.
A funeral service will be held 11 A.M. Saturday, January 31, at Sturtevant Funeral Home, Portsmouth Blvd. Chapel by the Rev. Tony Neal and Rev. Steve Bingham. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Claybrook Baptist Church Cemetery in Weems, VA at 4 P.M. Currie Funeral Home is handling graveside services.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions; https://netcommunity.imb.org/Donation/imb/LMCO.
In Memory of: Zizi Bray Pruitt, in care of: Thomas C. Bray and Dianne B. Grimsley, 9201 Candle Light Ct., Toano, VA 23168