BUNNIE ELIZABETH SPEARS SMITH
Jan. 4, 1909-Aug. 18, 2017
Bunnie Elizabeth Spears Smith, 108, passed away Aug. 18, 2017, at Crystal Coast Hospice House in Newport, N.C.
Graveside services will be held Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017, at 10 a.m. in Willow Dale Cemetery, under the direction of Seymour Funeral Home and Cremation Service.
Born Jan. 4, 1909, in Raleigh, N.C., and lived in Charlotte, N.C., for a while before moving to Goldsboro, N.C., at 4 years old.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Leo Smith.
She is leaving behind her nephew, Bob Spears and wife, Marie, of Kinston, N.C.; great-nephew, Mark Spears of Knoxville, Tenn.; and great-niece, Bunnie Peterson of Raleigh, N.C.
She attended East Carolina Teachers College for four years, and participated in YWCA, Poe Society, Athletic Association, Wayne County Club, Delta Omicron Sigma, Proctor, Phi Epsilon president and Student Council.
She graduated in home economics from East Carolina Teachers College (ECU) in 1930.
She was the oldest alumnus of East Carolina University at the age of 108.
She taught in a number of North Carolina schools, Maury, Calypso, Clayton, Liberty, Lewiston, New Bern, Hookerton, Belfast and Goldsboro. She taught home economics and science.
She retired from teaching in Goldsboro in 1971, where she lived at Belfast near Goldsboro, where she attended Salem United Methodist Church with her husband Leo; they were devoted to each other, and they prospered though they never had any children. He died in 1986 at the age of 76.
Christmas of 1997, she moved to Kinston to live with Marie and Bob Spears, her nephew.
She joined Spilman Memorial Baptist Church, and was a member of Esther Sunday school class.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on August 22, 2017 8:05 AM