Mary Belle Minton, of St. Albans, West Virginia passed away on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at the age of 86. She was born in Dexter, Missouri on December 10, 1939, to Otis and Elsie Dowdy.
She grew up on the family’s Stoddard County farm, working alongside her parents and attending Dexter schools. In 1957, she married Paul Edward Minton (also of Dexter) at the New Bethel Baptist Church. Upon Paul’s graduation from college in 1959, the couple moved to West Virginia and settled in St. Albans where they raised their children and touched many lives.
Mary Belle was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Faye, and her husband of sixty-three years, Paul, and her son-in-law Mansour Mashayekhi. She is survived by her daughter Crystal Mashayekhi, her daughter and son-in-law Cheryl and John Brunetti, her grandchildren Sandy and Luke Finley, Anthony and Marisa Brunetti, Andrea and Rick Payne, Jack Brunetti, and Daniel Mashayekhi, and five great-granddaughters Mariella, Aria, Mia, Abigail and Ava. Also, by Faye’s daughter Deborah Reynolds and her daughters Kelsey Pillar and Amelia Reynolds and many beloved members of Paul’s family.
Mary Belle was a woman of faith, baptized at the age of eleven at New Bethel Church, and guided throughout her life by daily prayer and devotion. Her life centered on her family and her church. A homemaker, she devoted countless hours and boundless energy to activities involving her children, her church and her community. Sewing, baking bread, and hospitality were among her many talents. She had a true servant’s heart and was always ready to organize, lead, help, teach and clean. A complete list of her contributions would fill this whole page and always focused on helping others. If something needed to be done, Mary Belle was always ready to do it. A few examples include community programs to feed the hungry, numerous PTO projects and a broad array of efforts to support her church’s ministry including everything from teaching Sunday School to organizing wedding receptions to chairing church association committees to cleaning the kitchen.
Services will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Highlawn Baptist Church in St. Albans where Mary Belle worked and worshiped for over sixty years. Visitation will begin at 2:00pm, followed by the memorial service at 3:00pm. A private burial will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Highlawn Baptist Church (2304 Jefferson Avenue, St. Albans, WV 25177) or to your local food pantry.
Marybelle was beloved by all who knew her and will be dearly missed. Remembering her family in prayer through this difficult time.
We experienced MaryBelles gifts over and over again. We were invited to share meals on New Years Day with the family, helped us unpack, when Nancy had an emergency and Pastor Joe was praying for a church h member having open heart surgery- Mary Belle drove Nancy to be seen and then transferred via Ambulance to hospital and then colon surgery. Such a loving kind hearted spirit and devoted servant of God. She was willing to serve even last minute. We laughed with her at the HBCs 75th anniversary when we saw the first three pictures of previous pastors hanging on the wall. We could still hear Mary Belle pointing to them and saying starting with the founding pastor- Pastor Keeney, – She with a straight dry sense of humor she said- “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” The last one was Pastor Joe! We laughed and laughed as it was so out of character for her. We were.blessed to spend time with her at the 75th Anniversary celebration, and with so many precious servants at HBC. Mary Belle will be missed by many and we will look forward to seeing her in our heavenly home. Prayers for family, friends and HBC on her passing. We will hold you up in our prayers.