Athleen Brown Whisnant Farris

WINSTON SALEM -- Mrs. Farris, passed away at Brookridge Baptist Retirement Center in Winston Salem on Saturday, January 12, 2008. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 15, at Forest Lawn West Cemetery in Charlotte.

Mrs. Farris was born in York County, South Carolina, and was the daughter of the late Mary Brown Castles and William Preston Whisnant. She was a 1929 graduate of North Carolina College for Women (UNCG) and completed graduate studies in education at Peabody (Vanderbilt). She was predeceased by her eight siblings and in 1990 by her husband, Edward Floyd Farris, a trustee of the North Carolina Baptist Homes. She was a resident of Shelby for almost 40 years, a respected elementary school teacher in both Shelby and Gastonia, and a true lifelong learner. While living in Shelby, she was a member of the Shelby Garden Club, the Ex Libris Book Club, the North Carolina Poetry Society, and was Regent of the Benjamin Cleveland Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was an active member of First Baptist Church in Shelby and later of First Baptist in Winston Salem. She had been a resident of Brookridge Retirement Center in Winston Salem since late 1989.

Mrs. Farris is survived by her daughter, Camille Farris Suttle, and husband, William Allen Suttle, of Greensboro; her grandsons, William Mark Suttle and wife, Wesley of Winston Salem, Samuel Brown Suttle of Washington, DC, and Allen Edward Suttle of Greensboro; her sister-in-law, Mrs. Charles Day Whisnant of Charlotte; and many close nieces and nephews. Surviving her also is her dear friend, Robert Kennedy, of Winston Salem.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care Center, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston Salem, NC 27103.

Published in the Charlotte Observer on 1/13/2008