Melissa Hutchison Ducote

Melissa Hutchison Ducote, 59, of Brookland, Texas, passed away on April 7, 2017.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange. Officiating will be Stephen Hudnall. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Orange.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.

Born in Orange, Texas, on June 30, 1957, she was the daughter of Hollis Eugene Hutchison and Ethylee Sandlin. To all that knew Melissa Ducote knew she was a more than unique. She always had a way with people and she never met a stranger. She worked 25 years as a Manager at Memorial Cleaners. While there, she gained a second family that grew through the years from her coworkers down to her patrons. That later carried through life as she raised her children with her husband, Jimmy Ducote. She was a devoted wife, mother, and friend. She always had her door open to people in need. She would lend her time to help her friends, loved ones, and strangers through their hard times. She was an amazingly simple woman with a very diverse life. She was as I call her the Mother of Mother's. She was loved by so many that she was like a second mother to many that were close to her. If there was one way to describe her best. She was like a cross between Mother Teressa and Willy Nelson. She was a hippie to the core with the heart of a Saint.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Jimmy Ducote; and her brother, Gean Hutchison.

She is survived by her children, Daniel Ducote and his wife, Holly of Brookland, Benjamin Ducote and his wife, Tricia of Orange, and Jennifer Hotchkiss of Nederland; her grandchildren, Brandon, Jasmin, Nick, Gabriel, Kylee, Lilia, Tristan, Tyler, and Victoria; and her brother, Bobby Hutchison of Bridge City.