Ada Alfreda Gilford Sykes (Freda) went home to her lord after many years of service. She was the daughter of the late Alfred and Ada Gilford. She received her Christian education and was baptized at the Twenty-Third Street Baptist Church in Ensley, Alabama.

She attended schools in Ensley and Birmingham, Alabama. After finishing high school, she relocated to Boston, Massachusetts with her family, where she met and married the late Ernest Sykes.

They joined St. John Missionary Baptist Church in 1957 under the leadership of Rev. R.D Kelly where she remained one of the most faithful and longest members for almost 70 years. She took great honor serving in the Saint John Gospel Chorus Choir. She pursued her education in health care and was employed as a nurse at Boston Medical Center and Laurel Ridge until retirement.

Family remaining to celebrate her union with her creator and to carry on the sweet fragrance of her memory are her children, Pamela Sanford, Amos Sykes, Darnella Sykes, and her goddaughter Alfreda Jackson.

She is survived by her grandchildren, Sammie Greene, Latoya Sanford, Ayeshia Sanford, Darnella Smart-Scott, Parris Sanford, Amos F. Sykes, Nikia Hackett and Eunyque Sykes; sixteen great-grandchildren; one great-great grandchild and a host of family members.

She will be welcomed in Heaven by her husband, her parents, her daughter, Wilhelmina Melrose, and her granddaughter, Latisha Melrose.