Theresa "Rea" L. Moncrief

Mrs. Theresa “Rea” Moncrief, born May 15, 1926, died peacefully at home on Sunday, October 26, 2025, at the age of 99.

Rea graduated from Lyman High School and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College at Perkinston. She attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she majored in Home Economics, and met her future husband, Monty Moncrief. Rea truly loved her family and her home. In both Hattiesburg and Gulfport, in addition to beautiful, well decorated homes, she always had a yard filled with vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers.

Rea’s family cherishes memories of family vacations every year; many road trips with family, especially grandchildren; canning and freezing vegetables each year; porch sitting; two morning cups of coffee; looking for treasures while antiquing and bargain shopping; visiting and facetiming with her great-grandchildren; and talking on the phone with her sister Kate.

Rea was preceded in death by her husband, Winfred “Monty” H. Moncrief; their daughter, Susan Lee Moncrief; parents, James and Elmira “Myra” Lee; siblings, Nell O’Gorman (Raymond), James “Jimmy” Lee (Ann), Joyce Cobb (Cecil), Robert Lee (Margaret);and brother-in-law, Charles “Charlie Ray” King.

She is survived by her daughter, Myra Bruce (Robert); grandchildren, Reid Bruce (Kyndal) and Kate Carter (Bryan); great-grandchildren, Hudson Bruce, Sutton Bruce, Elliot Carter, and Stuart Carter; sister, Kate King; and many special nieces and nephews.

Many thanks go to Rea’s kind and caring Dr. Jimmy Dimitriades, and thanks also to Deaconess Home Health and Hospice.

A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at Roseland Park Cemetery in Hattiesburg, MS. Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport is honored to serve the family of Mrs. Theresa “Rea” Moncrief.

Her strong, quiet faith in God sustained her through a life of both joys and sorrows. Her motto was ‘Always have something to look forward to.” She will be missed by many.