Naomi Yvonne Pleasants Maxwell departed this life on July 28, at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Naomi was born on August 13, 1925, to the late James and Laura Pleasants of Milford, Virginia, one of ten children. She died just fifteen days short of her eighty-fourth birthday.

Naomi was educated in the Caroline County School system. She accepted Jesus at a very young age when she joined the St. James Baptist Church under the pastorate of Reverend E. L. R. Guss.

At the age of eighteen, she journeyed to New York City to seek employment. After working in a war plant, she went to school to become a nurse where she received her L.P.N. license.

She attended the Union Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. In 1945, she gave birth to her only child, Brenda Joyce Pleasants. She later met Elliott Maxwell whom she married in 1983. In 1991 they retired and moved to her husband's hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Naomi was widowed on September 28, 1993.

Naomi was a quiet, strong-willed person with great humor, who loved to help people. She was a wonderful woman who endured life's circumstances with incomparable grace and always gave more than she had. Her generosity and the giving of herself were remarkable. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

She leaves to mourn, one devoted daughter, Brenda Pleasants, of Orangeburg; one grandson, Michael Joseph LaCugna of New Rochelle, New York; one brother, Carroll Pleasants, of San Antonio, Texas; three sisters-in-law, Gloria Pleasants of San Antonio, Texas; Lillian Maxwell and Annette Frost of Orangeburg, South Carolina and one brother-in-law, John Maxwell of Orangeburg, South Carolina and nieces, nephews and devoted friends, Bobby and Rita Gartman of Orangeburg, South Caroline.

Visitation will be Monday, August 3, from noon to 8 p.m. at C. W. Edwards Funeral Home, Inc., 16476 Richmond Turnpike, Bowling Green, Virginia 22427, and one hour prior to service at the church on Tuesday.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, at St. James Baptist Church, 19514 Sparta Road, Milford, Virginia 22514. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.