Agnes Holland Brown Brock

Agnes Holland Brown Brock
June 2, 1931
November 2, 2024

Celebration of Life
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
11:00 AM
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville
with visitation one hour before service

Burial services will be private.

Rose Hill, NC

Agnes Holland Brown Brock of the Pasture Branch community, Rose Hill, NC gained the angel wings we all knew she invisibly wore here on earth on Saturday, November 2, 2024

She is predeceased by husbands, Norman Edward Brown, Sr. and William Edward Brock. Son, Norman Edward Brown, Jr., and parents Patrick McCrae Holland and Eva Mildred Thomas Holland.

Left to cherish her memory are her two daughters, Anna Brown and husband Dennis of Rose Hill and Gina Hines and husband Larry of Rose Hill; sisters Hazel Pittman Rowe and Patricia Head both of Wayne County; grandchildren:  Norman Dwayne Brown and wife Sandra, Amanda Brown Collins and husband Brandon, Justin Brown and wife Jennifer, Georgiana Whaley, Ashley Holmes and husband Josh, Kevin Hines and wife Jessicca; great grandchildren: Hannah Whaley, Hallie Whaley (father Brad), Taylor Holmes, Tyler Holmes, Peyton Brown, McCrae Brown and Kinlee Hines.

Known to many, loved by all who knew her, “Miss Agless”, as she was affectionately called, lived a long, full life.  She was born and raised in Nahunta, North Carolina, where she attended and graduated from Nahunta High School.  She was the daughter of a sharecropper and homemaker who taught her, at an early age, the value of hard work.  Those values and lessons stuck with her all her life.  As a result, she was no stranger to hard work and strong moral values.

In her teenage years, she dreamt of becoming a nurse, following in the footsteps of a beloved aunt.  After graduating from Nahunta High in the 1940s, she enrolled at James B. Walker School of Nursing in Wilmington, NC.  During that time, nursing students were not allowed to be married while attending school.  When she met Norman, or Slim as he was known, she chose love over a career, leaving school behind to pursue marriage and growing her own family.  When she and Slim married, she became a part of the Pasture Branch community where she lived and loved others the remainder of her life.

Slim and Agnes had one son, Norman Edward Brown, Jr.  Sadly, Slim passed away ten years into their marriage, leaving her to care for Slim’s aging mother, Anna, and their nine-year-old son.  To make ends meet, she enrolled in Cosmetology school and earned her chair at Dot’s in Wallace, NC.  She worked there a few years after she married her second husband, William, in the early 1960s.

In this chapter of her life, she and William farmed and opened a small country store where he did mechanic work and she ran the grocery side of the store.  During that time, she and William had two daughters, Anna and Gina.  After health issues made it impossible for William to do mechanic work, they closed the store and focused on farming.

Because she was a farmer’s daughter, she was happiest whenever she was outdoors.  She loved driving tractors, working in the fields, gardening, digging in flower beds and, in her more mature years, she could be found on any given day doing yard work on the land she and William called Home.  She loved a fire and would stack piles of odd limbs and debris she cleaned each week from her yard.  She would sit with her favorite furry companion, Coco, watching it all burn to ash.

Her heart was as big as the ocean, and for many years she was a caregiver to those she loved dearly.  She cared for both mothers-in-law for over fifty years, combined.  She was caregiver to her late husband, William, before his death in 2014.  To say she was tough was an understatement.  She never complained, she just did what she had to do, and always put others needs ahead of her own with deep love and genuine compassion.

Her family was everything to her.  Everyone knew she was the glue that held them all together.  For years, she made quilts by hand, and every single one of her children, their children, and their children’s children own a quilt made especially for them.  They may have been made from old scrap pieces of fabric, but each quilt was made with immeasurable, unconditional love.  Countless hours of stitching and sewing allowed her to give these treasures to those she loved.  In addition to her family, she also gave quilts, or odd things she had made, to close friends and neighbors.  In giving, her heart was happiest.

To those who knew and loved her, her love for and faith in God was evident in all she did.  She was a Sunday school teacher for over fifty years at Island Creek Baptist Church, and her beautiful Alto voice lifted high though out the Sanctuary each Sunday morning.  Her biggest prayer was that others saw Jesus in her.

She was quick with jokes and loved to laugh.  Her way of warming up to strangers was to make light of any situation and, through laughter, she made life-long friends easily.  She was kind and caring.  She was devoted and loyal, and she loved others as they loved her.  She was absolutely hands down, a wonderful, beautiful soul. 

They say grief is the price one pays for love, and no matter the number of years we live without her physically, we will always carry a part of her with us.  She will forever be loved and forever be missed.  No one should doubt where she is today.  She is now walking streets of Gold, singing in Heaven’s great choir, and worshipping God as faithfully as she did though out her earthly life,

Please feel free to join the family in a Celebration of Life service on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 11:00 AM at Serenity Funeral Home in Beulaville, with visitation one hour prior to the service.  Burial services will be private.  In Lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her honor to Island Creek Baptist Church, 237 Pasture Branch Road, Rose Hill, NC 28458.

Jerry Rogers Kennedy

Jerry Rogers Kennedy
June 10, 1943
October 11, 2024

Funeral Service
Sunday, October 13, 2024
6:00 PM followed by Visitation
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville 

Graveside Service
Monday, October 14, 2024
11:00 AM with Masonic Rites
Kennedy & Cole Cemetery
Across from 3642 E. NC 24, Beulaville

Beulaville, NC 

Jerry Rogers Kennedy, age 81, died Friday, October 11, 2024 at home.  Jerry is preceded in death by has wife, Mary Eleanor Weston Kennedy, brothers, Lynwood Ralph Kennedy and Norwood Kennedy. 

Mr. Kennedy is survived by two daughters, Melisa K. Browning and husband James of Richlands, and Jeri Denise K. Humphries and husband Wayne of Beulaville; son, Jonathan R. Kennedy of Potters Hill; sister, Polly Jarman of Richlands; brother, Larry Kennedy of Jacksonville; five grandchildren, James Alex Browning, III and wife Christina, Megan E. Ray and husband Austin, Tyler C. Humphries, Trevan J. Humphries, Trista S. Humphries; and two great grandchildren, Rush A. Browning and Charlotte M. Ray. 

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford, NC, 600 College Street, Oxford, NC  27565.

Tanya C. Mercer

Tanya Casteen Mercer
March 13, 1965
October 3, 2024

Funeral Service
Sunday, October 6, 2024
5:00 PM followed by visitation
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville

Graveside Service
Monday, October 7, 2024
11:00 AM
East Duplin Memorial Gardens, Beulaville

Pink Hill, NC

Tanya Casteen Mercer, age 59, died Thursday, October 3, 2024 at home. She is preceded in death by her daughter, Jennifer C. Mercer and her parents, Daniel Casteen and Carolyn Rogers Sanderson.

Tanya is survived by her husband, Gary Daniel Mercer of Pink Hill; daughter, Isabella Carol Mercer of Pink Hill; sisters, Renee Casteen of Kenansville, Trena Casteen Bryan and husband Bill of Jacksonville; and brother, Royce Kinan Casteen and wife Susan of Beulaville.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sandy Plain OFWB Church, 949 NC 241, Pink Hill, NC 28572.

Janice Smith Lanier

Janice Smith Lanier
July 24, 1935
September 28, 2024

Funeral Service
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
6:00 PM followed by visitation
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville

Graveside Service
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
10:00 AM
East Duplin Memorial Gardens, Beulaville

Beulaville, NC

Janice Smith Lanier, age 89, died Saturday, September 28, 2024 at home. She was preceded in death by her husband Edward Rayburn Lanier and brother Ray Carroll Smith. Mrs. Lanier is survived by her daughter, Mary Anna Lee of Beulaville; son, Ed Lanier of Beulaville; three grandchildren, Corey Lee, Hannah Lee, Nate Lee; and two great grandchildren Cammie Lee and Casen Newburn.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Beulaville Baptist Church, P. O. Box 394 Beulaville, NC 28518

Doreen G. Russell

Doreen G. Russell
November 6, 1958
September 26, 2024

Visitation in Celebration of Her Life
Sunday, September 29, 2024
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville

Beulaville, NC

Doreen G. Russell, age 65, died peacefully Thursday, September 26, 2024, at Lower Cape Fear
Life Care in Wilmington, NC, surrounded by her loved ones.

Doreen was born on November 6, 1958, in Poughkeepsie, NY to Shirley Russell and Dennis Russell, Sr. Doreen graduated from Poughkeepsie High School in 1976. She worked for IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY for fifteen years. She then worked as manager in several gas stations with Mid-Hudson Valley Oil Company in Dutchess County, NY for sixteen years. Doreen loved anything to do with technology, all types of music, and watching “Days of Our Lives”.

Doreen is preceded in death by her mother, Shirley Russell, father, Dennis Russell, Sr., sister, Donna Russell, and daughter, Bonnie Bennett. She is survived by her spouse, Guy Lund; her children, Robert Bennett, Jr., Katherine Eccleston, Kristal Lund, Dayna Bennett; brothers, Dennis Russell Jr., Lester Russell, David Russell and Jesse Russell; sister Dolores Russell; grandchildren, Jamie Johnson, Byron Johnson, Callista Nichols Calamari, Aeris Adams, Caleb Adams, Hannah Adams, Dylan Bennett, Damien Bennett, Gabe Eccleston, Sophia Eccleston, Oliver Eccleston, Samuel Tyler North, Braden Lund, Liliana Lund; great-grandchildren, Byron Johnson III, Natalia Carr, Ethan Bilodeau.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, 1414 Physician Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401.