Maxine Hamilton

Mrs. Maxine Moore Hamilton, 95, of Mount Airy, passed away Thursday, December 13, 2018.  She was born January 21, 1923, in Thomasville, the older of two daughters of Max and Carrie Underwood Moore.  Maxine and her sister, Priscilla, shared many fun adventures growing up together in Thomasville.  She attended Thomasville High School, where she was president of her senior class.  She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in chemistry, a rarity for a woman in those days.  With few jobs for women chemists in North Carolina, she accepted a job with CALCO Chemical Company in Bound Brook, NJ, where she was the only woman serving on the laboratory staff.  Maxine returned to North Carolina to marry John R. Hamilton in December 1945, after his return from service with the Marines in the Pacific Theater.  They moved to Mount Airy in 1950, where she joined her husband in the field of education.  She started her teaching career at Beulah School, a small rural community in Surry County, where she taught high school English.  She and her husband enjoyed some of the happiest years of their lives at Beulah as they established their careers and contributed to the education of young students.  In 1955, Maxine accepted a job in the Mount Airy school system, where she began a twenty-five year career teaching biology.  She felt blessed to have the opportunity to share her love of science and nature with so many wonderful students.  She developed friendships with them that lasted a lifetime.  She was honored many times during her career by her students and fellow faculty members, including Teacher of the Year and Favorite Teacher.  Maxine ended her career in 1982 after more than 30 years of teaching.

Maxine was a faithful member of Central United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, where she served for many years as a leader in the Methodist Youth Fellowship and as a Sunday school teacher.  She loved Mount Airy and was active for many years as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, Yokefellow Ministry, and The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.  For 52 years, she was a member of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society.  Her friends will always remember her as a person who put others before herself and for making others feel appreciated and valued.  Her family, friends, and former students always will cherish the quiet times they spent with her discussing religion, science, a new book, or “life.”  She was an amazing listener.

Maxine will be remembered by her family as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.  Always a teacher, she taught her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to have a “lively curiosity” and they were always gifting her with bugs, worms, sand crabs and seashells, and showering her with intriguing questions.  There was no better “Grannie.”  She started many cherished family traditions, including an annual June family reunion in Ocean Isle, which has continued for 40 years.

In addition to her parents, Maxine was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, John R. Hamilton, Jr.  She is survived by her son, John R. Hamilton, III and his wife, Ona, of Huntsville, AL; a son, Neil Hamilton and his wife, Anna, of Benicia, CA; a daughter, Lynn Dickens and her husband, Scotty, of Winston-Salem; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; a great-great-grandchild; a sister, Priscilla Joyce of Thomasville; a sister-in-law, Barbara Hepler of Thomasville; and a host of nieces and nephews.

The family would like to express a special thank you to Brighton Gardens of Winston-Salem and Helen Gordon of Mount Airy for their love and caring support of Maxine.

A celebration of Maxine’s life will be held Saturday, December 29, 2018, at 1:30 PM at Central United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, with the Rev. Danny Miller officiating.  The family will receive friends in the Ladies’ Parlor immediately following the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Central United Methodist Church, 1909 North Main Street, Mount Airy, NC  27030; or Trellis Supportive Care, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, NC  27103.

Do not stand at the grave and weep.  I am not there.  I do not sleep.  I am a thousand winds that blow.  I am the diamond glints on snow.  I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  I am the gentle autumn’s rain.  When you awaken in the morning’s hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.  I am the soft stars that shine at night.  Do not stand at my grave and cry:  I am not there.  I did not die.  Mary Elizabeth Frye

Moody Funeral Services in Mount Airy is serving the family.