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.