Elizabeth Anne Barnes Whitley

Visitation:
Saturday, February 08
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
First Baptist Church
308 N Lombard St,
Clayton, NC 27520

Funeral Service:
Saturday, February 08
3:00 PM
First Baptist Church
308 N Lombard St,
Clayton, NC 27520

Interment:
Saturday, February 08
Forest Hill
Clayton, NC 27520

Elizabeth Barnes Whitley, who was affectionately known as Anne by so many, died
Sunday, February 2 at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her
daughter, Marva, by her side.
She was born Elizabeth Anne Barnes on March 21, 1936, in Princeton, North
Carolina, the eighth child of the late Lonnie and Charlotte Barnes.
She spent her early childhood in the Clayton, North Carolina area before her family
moved to Smithfield, North Carolina.
As a teenager, she joined Strickland Grove Baptist Church in Four Oaks, North
Carolina.
She excelled in school and graduated salutatorian in her class at the Johnston
County Training School in Smithfield in 1953.
Determined to become a teacher, she enrolled in North Carolina College in Durham,
North Carolina, now known as North Carolina Central University. But finances
were tough for her large family, and she was forced to leave the school when her
parents could no longer cover her tuition.
After taking a break to work and raise money, she later enrolled at Winston-Salem
Teachers College, which is now known as Winston-Salem State University, to
complete her studies. While a student there, she was inducted into Delta Sigma
Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1958
and started her teaching career at Wilson's Mills Elementary School later that year.
In 1967, she married Marvin Hinton and moved to Clayton. Their union produced
one child, a daughter they named Marva Anne. Theirs was a happy marriage until
Marvin's untimely death of cancer in 1982.
She taught for 18 years until health concerns forced her into an early retirement.
Following years of treatment for a rare lung disease, she made her way back to the
workforce in the 1990s, earning her state insurance license and later returned to
the classroom first as a substitute teacher and later as a full-time teacher at a
charter school in Harnett County.
She put down the chalk for good in the early 2000s.
In 2001, she married Donald Whitley. They enjoyed nearly 10 years together until
his death of cancer in 2010.
In October of 2019, she moved in with her daughter and family in Miami-Dade
County, Florida. Nothing made her happier than spending time with her
grandchildren.
At the time of her death, she was a faithful member of Lee's Crossroads Baptist
Church in Wendell, North Carolina. She enjoyed attending Sunday School and
church services as well as traveling with her church family until her health began
to fail.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her first husband, Marvin B. Hinton,
her second husband, Donald G. Whitley, her brothers Dalma, James, and Raymond
Barnes, and her sisters Bettye Thornton, Clara Lee Hicks, Ella Mae Jordan,
Elaine Murray and Mary Sanders.
She is survived by her daughter, Marva Hinton Gibson, her son-in-law, Derrick
Gibson, her granddaughter, Cairo, her grandson, Garvey, all of Cutler Bay, Florida,
as well as her sisters E.B. Penny of Smithfield, Sarah Gragg of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Frances Heckstall of Richmond, Virginia, along with her sisters
-in-law Bernice Dunn and Lillie Vinson, both of Clayton, and a host of nieces,
nephews and friends.