ECU spotlights 104-year-old alumna
Bob Spears was having breakfast at Bojangles’ when an editorial staff member of ECU’s East magazine called to inquire about the health of his aunt and their alumna, Bunnie Elizabeth Spears Smith.
“She’s here with me and I’d let you talk to her, but I think she’s interested in that biscuit right now,” Bob Spears said.
Born Jan. 4, 1909, in Raleigh and living in Charlotte before moving to Goldsboro at the age of 4, Elizabeth Spears remembers gas lights, the first car she rode in and seeing the first paved road in the state. She graduated in 1926 from the William Street High School in Goldsboro, the last year before the school was moved to its present site.
At East Carolina Teachers College, as it was called during her student years, she was senior class representative to the SGA, president of Phi Epsilon, a member of Delta Omicron Sigma and the Poe Society, and participated in the Athletic Association and the Wayne County Club. After her graduation, she taught home economics and science at Maury School near Wilson and in Greene, Wayne and Craven counties until her retirement in 1971.
She and her husband Leo never had children. He died in 1986. At Christmas in 1997, she moved to Kinston to live with her nephew and his wife Marie. She joined and is active in Spilman Memorial Baptist Church. She gets her hair done every Friday and does all of her personal activities — making her bed daily, doing her laundry, picking out her clothes, dressing herself and doing her own make up.
At age 95, her driver’s license was renewed for five years and, until she was 97, she drove regularly to the Goldsboro YMCA to swim. She decided on her own to permanently park her car.
Library, church plan egg hunt
The Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library and Queen Street United Methodist Church will host “The Great Easter Egg Hunt” at 3 p.m. March 30 at the library, 510 N. Queen St.
There will be crafts, stories, games, prizes, Eggs, eggs and more eggs — 5,000 to be exact. There also will be photo opportunities with several recognizable characters. Just bring your on camera. The afternoon will provide fun for the whole family.
The event is free and open to the public. Everyone is encouraged to join the activities and bring Easter egg baskets.
For more information, contact the library at 252-527-7066, ext. 120 or neuselibrary.org.
