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GREENVILLE — Myra Ann Thomas McLawhorn (age 83) died peacefully Monday morning, September 18, 2023.  A graveside memorial will be held at East Duplin Memorial Gardens cemetery for her and her husband’s ashes in early summer 2024.

After growing up in Beaulaville, North Carolina, Ann decided to become a teacher. She graduated with honors from East Carolina College in 1962 with a BS in Social Studies and a minor in English, obtained her teaching certificate, and began her career. She spent much of her career teaching English at North Pitt High School until she retired in 2000. However, teaching was more than a job for her, it was her vocation. She never tired of learning and helping others learn, whether they were her students, her own children, or her friends. She was a lifelong avid reader and enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and all types of word puzzles. She spent many happy hours watching and identifying birds from her kitchen window. She loved to travel to United States historical sites, parks, and outdoor dramas and met her goal of visiting all 50 states in 2022. She loved to cook for and entertain family and friends. Her most famous secret family recipe was her fruitcake, a Christmas tradition that converted even the staunchest fruitcake hater into an Ann’s Fruitcake lover.

She is survived by her three daughters and their spouses/children: Teresa Shingleton and her husband George (deceased), Penny Johnson and her husband Phil, and Vicki Alexander and her husband Charlie. Ann greatly loved her five grandchildren (Kelli, Lily, Michael, Destiny, Brooklyn), three great-grandchildren (Dylan, Leah, Raylan), and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Larry Thomas McLawhorn, her parents, Walter Jay Thomas, Sr. and Lottie Watkins Thomas, and her siblings, Walter Jay Thomas, Jr., Judy Thomas Byrd, and Charles Dean Thomas.

Ann supported numerous charities both large and small. In lieu of flowers, please donate in her memory to a charity of your choice.

Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home & Crematory.  Online condolences at www.wilkersonfuneralhome.com.