Mary Lou Gilmore

HELENA – Mary Lou Pace Gilmore, age 80, passed away Thursday, May 21, 2026. She was born January 27, 1946, in Hollywood, Alabama to David Tate Pace and Elora Craze Pace.

Visitation will be on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, from 10 am to 11 am in the sanctuary of Riverchase United Methodist Church in Hoover, Alabama immediately followed by a memorial service at 11 am. The Reverend Clay A. Farrington will officiate the service. A private internment service for immediate family only will follow the memorial service.

Mary Lou graduated from Scottsboro High School in Scottsboro, Alabama and earned an education degree from Florence State (the University of North Alabama) in Florence, Alabama. She began a teaching career at Coffee High School in Florence, Alabama before leaving the field to raise two boys. Later, she went back to school obtaining her accounting degree from UNA and held various bookkeeping and accounting positions in the Shoals and the Birmingham area. Most recently, she was the receptionist at Mountain Brook Country Club, a position she cherished and dearly loved for all the relationships she nurtured with the members and their families.

Mary Lou is survived by her two sons, James (Jamie) W. Steele, Jr. (Janna) and Michael Brett Steele (Heather); her grandchildren, Caroline S. Maze (Chase), Anna Grace S. Fitts (Richard), Charles (Charlie) T. Steele (Abby) and William Lucas Steele (Ella-fiancé); her great granddaughter, Avery Stuart Maze; her siblings, Peggy Ruth P. Summers, Jimmie Francis P. Wilbourn and Richard A. Pace (Angela); numerous nephews and nieces; and Jay, Valerie and Jackson Thomas, her next door neighbors and adopted family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, as well as her husband, Jerry H. Gilmore.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to Two by Two Animal Rescue, c/o Helena Dog House; 97 Ace Place; Helena, Al 35080.