Miriam Moore Dunn

Miriam Moore Dunn, 91, of Elkin, NC died October 20, 2018.  “Mickey” was born on March 24, 1927, the daughter of Lillian Walters and Eber Elmer Moore.  She grew up on a tobacco farm in Pitt County with her 7 brothers and sisters.  She graduated from Chicod High School at the age of 16, and attended Atlantic Christian College (Barton College) where she graduated in 1947 with degrees in Spanish, English, and Education.

A career educator, her first teaching position was at Farmville High School where she met her future husband, John Walston Dunn.  When they married in December of 1948, it began a marriage that endured for more than 60 years.  Her teaching continued with a long tenure at Ralph L Fike High School in Wilson, NC.  At Fike, in addition to teaching Spanish and English, she advised both the yearbook and newspaper staffs.  After retiring from Fike, she taught in the adult high school at Wilson Technical Community College.

As a faithful and active supporter of her alma mater, she was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award in 2000 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2008 by Barton College.  She was active in the First Christian Church in Wilson, from singing in the choir to serving as an Elder. Mickey was an avid and friendly-competitive bridge player.  She was life-long sports fan, from the New York Yankees of her childhood to Duke University Basketball as an adult.

In 2010, Mickey moved to Elkin, NC to be closer to her daughter soon after the death of her husband.  She lived at Parkwood place, an independent retirement community, where she made many new friends and enjoyed life to the fullest.

Mickey is survived by her loving extended family:  Debra, Karl, and Kristen Bretz; Wally and Heather Dunn; Tim and Terri Overman; Laura, Joe, and Andrew Conley; Zhixiong and Yixuan Cai; Vandanna, Murali, and Athri Ranganathan; her brother Robert Perry Moore, and quite a few nieces and nephews.  In addition to her husband and her parents, Mickey was preceded in death by her brothers, Elmer and Kenneth Moore and sisters Rebekah Overman, Jean Hudson, Nell Fells, and Lois Clements.

The family is very grateful for the extraordinary care and love from the staff at Yadkin Nursing Center during Miriam’s last weeks.  There will be a private family gathering to celebrate Mickey’s life.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the John W. Dunn Endowed Mathematics Scholarship, Barton College, PO Box 5000, Wilson, NC 27893.