KATHRYN W. AYCOCK STROM
March 23, 1918-Feb. 15, 2010
Kathryn Venable White Aycock Strom, 91, passed away peacefully at the Brian Center in Spruce Pine.
Funeral services were held in the Aycock home with graveside services and burial in the Aycock Family Cemetery in Altamont, Avery County, with Yancey Funeral Services assisting the family and the Rev. Terry Alexander presiding with help from family and friends. She was loved greatly and will be missed. Memorials may be made to Avery County Habitat for Humanity, P.O. Box 1016, Newland, N.C. 28657, and the Avery Humane Society, PO Box 1213, Newland, N.C. 28657.
Kathryn was born in Knoxville, Tenn., a daughter of Willie Belle Johnston and Chris S. White. Her family moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., when she was in her early teens and then to Fayetteville before her junior year in high school. She married Ellis M. Lewis in 1938, and they made their home in Fayetteville, where they had one son, Ellis "Sonny" M. Lewis III, born April 25, 1939. Her husband, Ellis tragically died of a brain tumor March 1940.
Kathryn later married Walter Rogers Aycock, who was an electrical engineer with Carolina Power and Light, and they lived in Fayetteville and Laurinburg, as well as Florence, S.C., before settling in Goldsboro in 1947. Rogers Aycock adopted her son, Ellis, in 1944, and Ellis's name was changed to Ellis Lewis Aycock. They lived happily in Goldsboro, but in the fall of 1961, Rogers died as a result of an auto accident.
Kathryn later married C. Lee Strom and moved to Charleston, S.C., where they lived happily and traveled to many places, including Hawaii, Alaska and the North Carolina mountains, until he died April 16, 1990.
In 2003, Kathryn moved to Arden to be closer to her son and his family, and then to the Brian Center in Spruce Pine in 2007, where she was loved and taken care of by all the staff and her son Ellis and his wife, Barbara.
Kathryn loved nature, dogs, flowers, music, gardening, life, and especially her family. She was a lifelong Methodist and member of the Methodist church wherever she lived. She was the best possible mother, wife, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was the old-fashioned and frugal homemaker who washed clothes in the tub and hung them out to dry, kept a garden, prepared three meals a day for her family, and attended every one of the games of the three sports Ellis played, as well as all school and church functions.
Kathryn was predeceased by her mother and father and her brother, Chris S. White Jr.; and her sister, Belle White Powell. She is survived by her son, Ellis, and his wife, Barbara; a stepson, Jim Strom, and his wife, Margaret; a stepdaughter, Barbara Lindsey, and her husband, Gene; grandchildren, Scott Lewis Aycock and Wesley Lewis Aycock; great-grandchildren, Tenzin Lee Aycock, Rio Jack Aycock, Madison Ella Aycock, Avery Vella Aycock, and Analise Rose Aycock; numerous stepgrandchildren; and great-grandchildren; and many Lewis, Aycock, and Strom nieces and nephews.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on February 21, 2010 12:59 PM