Kaye Hovis Gribble

May 30, 1951 - July 28, 2025

Kaye Hovis Gribble of Dallas passed away peacefully on Monday, July 28, 2025, surrounded by family, after a years-long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She was 74 years old.

A 1969 graduate of Stanley High School, Kaye was an Executive Secretary at FMC Lithium for many years before becoming the Executive Director of the Gaston Literacy Council in 1998. For nearly two decades she spearheaded the agency and became a respected leader in the field. Driven by high standards and belief in the mission, Kaye served on committees that established national guidelines for adult literacy education and training, and Gaston Literacy became a model for other agencies around the United States. Upon her retirement in 2017, Kaye remarked, “I didn’t expect to rise to the level where people called me to ask for my help about how to do things better in their corner of the world.”

At Gaston Literacy, Kaye created the Reading Soul Mates program in 1999, in partnership with Gaston County Schools, that worked to solve a root cause of illiteracy by tutoring children at risk of missing key reading milestones in elementary school. Kaye served as President of the North Carolina Literacy Association, was appointed to Gaston County’s Workforce Development Board, was a member of the Rotary Club of Gastonia where she was named a Paul Harris Fellow, and was a 2000 graduate of Leadership Gaston. In 2001, Kaye received a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University’s School of Continuing Education.

A long-time volunteer in the public schools, Kaye was elected to represent the Dallas Township on the Gaston County Board of Education from 2010 - 2014. Kaye served on the Board of Directors of Gaston Dance Theatre for many years and was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a member of Alexis Baptist Church, where she directed the Children’s Choir in the 1980’s, and in more recent years enjoyed her weekly “Monday School” classes.

As committed as Kaye was to her professional and volunteer endeavors, family always came first. Nothing pleased her more than when the family could all be together and linger around the dining room table talking long after the meal was over.

Kaye leaves behind her husband of 54 years, Michael Gribble of Dallas, who was devoted to her care as her Parkinson’s Disease progressed. She was enormously proud of her three children and their families. She was admired and loved by her daughters and their husbands: Susan and Josh Crisp of Dallas and Donna and Chuck Clayton of Roswell, Georgia; and by her son and his wife: Michael and Emily Gribble of Charlotte.

Known as “KK” to her seven grandchildren and one great-grandson, Kaye is also survived by Ansley (21) and Meredith (18) Crisp, Adam (20) and Caroline (17) Clayton, Michael (16), Anna (14) and Mary (14) Gribble, and David Shelton (1).

She was preceded in death by her parents, Bonnie and Keith Hovis, and her sister Faye Paxton, and is survived by her brother, Sam Hovis, along with numerous cousins and six nieces and nephews: Donnie Self, Katie Quiring and Matthew Hovis, Tyler and Travis Cloninger, and Brittany Hishon.

The family will receive friends on Friday, August 1, 2025, from 2-3 p.m. in the sanctuary of Alexis Baptist Church, followed by a funeral service at 3 p.m. also at the church with Associate Pastor Scott Jenkins officiating.  Burial will conclude in the church cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Kaye’s honor to:

• Alexis Baptist Church - alexisbaptist.com/give <https://alexisbaptist.com/give>
• Gaston Literacy Council - gastonliteracy.org/donate <https://gastonliteracy.org/donate/>
• Parkinson’s Foundation - parkinson.org/donate https://www.parkinson.org/?form=19983&tribute=true

McLean Funeral Directors is serving the Gribble family.