Lillian Ruth Best

Lillian Ruth Best, 86, of Graceville, Florida formerly of the Greater Philadelphia area, was called home to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, October 5, 2024. She was born one of six children to Isaac Henry and Hattie Vera (Kirkland) Ezell on November 7, 1937, in Ariton, Alabama. She spent many of her formative years with her sisters and brothers working in the cotton fields of northwest Florida and southeast Alabama. She started working as a teenager in the food service industry as a waitress at the Circle Grill in Graceville. She married early in life and had a daughter, Deborah. She moved to the Philadelphia area married again and had four sons: Anthony, Joseph, Gregory, and Jeffery. She raised her family in the Greater Philadelphia area. Working in the food service industry, volunteering in many capacities, including feeding the homeless and taking care of the elderly. She was an integral part of the Compassionate Ministries at the Collingdale Church of the Nazarene. She retired from the Strawbridge & Clothier as a Food Service Manager. She moved back to the Graceville area to help care for her mother. She fell in love with James Best and the two married in June of 2011. She is a member of the Bethel Baptist Church in Graceville. She became the grandmother to sixteen and great grandmother to thirty-two and a great-great grandmother to one. In addition to her parents, Lillian was predeceased by her siblings: Evelyn Helen (Ezell) McCallister, Willie Jean (Ezell) McCallister, Kenneth Junior Ezell and Robert Hicks; her sons: Anthony and Gregory Salvatore; her grandchildren: Christopher Michael and Michael Christopher. Lillian Ruth is survived by her husband, James Best, her sister Margaret Ann Chancey, and her children Deborah (Leon) Flowers, Joseph (Ramona) Bucolo, and Jeffery (Michelle) Bucolo. Her grandchildren Nicole, Renee, Tara, Danny, Sharon, Anthony, Michelle, Katelyn, Joseph, Cheree, Joshua, Amanda, Audrie, Ashley, her great grandchildren, and great-great grandchild. Funeral services will be 10 AM, Thursday, October 17, 2024, at the Chapel of James & Lipford Funeral Home in Graceville, Florida. Burial will follow in Bethel Baptist Church cemetery with James & Lipford Funeral Home directing. The family will receive friends from 5 PM to 7 PM on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at the funeral home.

Lillian Ruth Best

November 7, 1937 - October 5, 2024