A memorial service for Ava Darlene LaGrone, 64, will be held at a later date by her family.
Ava Darlene LaGrone was born November 19, 1960 in Houston, Texas to Sanford Davis, Jr. and Myrle (McDonald) Davis. She passed from this life on Sunday, January 19, 2025 in Blanchard, Oklahoma.
As a child, she lived in Victoria, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. She completed high school in Nashville, graduating in 1977. Following high school graduation, she settled in Temple, Texas. It was there that she pursued nursing school at King’s Daughters Hospital and earned her nursing license.
As an Army wife, Ava lived at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, during its time as Fort Bragg, before returning to Temple. She also worked as an LVN at the Veterans Hospital in Temple. Her journey took her to Carthage and the Gatesville area, where Ava worked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This was followed by a stint in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where she lived and worked in Mesquite, Balch Springs, and Lewisville. She then moved to Shreveport, lived in Hurst, and eventually found herself in Blanchard, where Ava spent the last years of her life residing with her niece Deana, her husband Ben, and their children.
Ava was married four times, and her children were the product of her second marriage to Tom LaGrone. She experienced her longest continuous period of sobriety during her third marriage.
Ava was raised in the Free Will Baptist tradition, but left the church as an adult. She recently rededicated her life and had resumed regular church attendance at Beacon Church in the Blanchard area. Ava had returned to school and was excited to be finding a new direction for her life. She was an avid reader and enjoyed people-watching and social activities.
She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Troy and Annie McDonald of Houston and Pauline and Sanford Davis, Sr. of Iola.
Loved ones left to remember her are her daughter and son-in-law Rachel LaGrone Mello and Clovis of Plano, Texas; son David LaGrone of Lott, Texas; mother and father Myrle and Sanford Davis, Jr. of Bullard, Texas; brothers Avery Davis and his wife Debbie of Park City, Illinois and Adrian Davis of Bullard, Texas; and grandchildren Michael, Nathaniel, and Elizabeth Mello; numerous nieces and nephews and other extended family.
In lieu of flowers, Ava’s children have requested that donations be made in her memory to Simply Grace, a DFW based addiction recovery center and sober living facility supporting women and their children to achieve long term recovery from substance abuse disorder. Donations can be mailed to: PO Box 515684, Dallas, TX 75251. You can learn more about Simply Grace, their services, and other ways you can support their work at www.simplygracehouse.com .
Cremation arrangements are with Ferguson Funeral Home in Chickasha.