Janet Stallings Cumbee

It is with profound sadness that the family of Janet Stallings Cumbee announces her passing on Tuesday, October 17, surrounded by her loving family. She will be so missed by so many.

Born December 24, 1931, in Garland, North Carolina, Janet was the only child of Leila (neé Rich) and Thurman Stallings. After graduating from Fayetteville High School, she attended Meredith College, where she graduated in 1953 as her class President with a degree in Religion. An elementary school teacher her entire professional career and a lifelong learner, Janet obtained two Master’s Degrees, one in Religious Education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and one in Adult Education from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.

Janet had a wonderful sense of humor. Her table and house were always filled with laughter. Her table was also filled with wonderful food, and her biscuits were special favorites. She was a lover of all creatures great and small. She especially loved birds and her family’s slew of dogs and cats. She was an avid gardener and possessed an exceptionally green thumb. Her yard was a riot of color during the spring.

Janet was a fearless lover of travel and spent a couple of years living in St. Andrews, Scotland, taking care of 3 young children while her former husband completed his PhD. Later, the family moved to Bangor, Maine where Janet was known to be the only person who special ordered grits at the local grocery store.

After moving back to North Carolina, she lived in Wake Forest for 42 years and then transitioned to the Givens Estate retirement community in Asheville in 2019. She had many friends in all the places she lived and made a profound impact on her communities. She enjoyed traveling with friends and family to Germany, Ireland, Bermuda, and Canada, and even went chimp-trekking in Uganda on her 80th birthday on a visit to see her granddaughter.

Janet cared deeply about others and volunteered for many years with Meals on Wheels. She was an outspoken advocate for social and environmental justice. In the 1950s, she participated in a student exchange at St. Augustine’s University, and later in life, she joined members of her church in Raleigh in a protest against the Iraq war. Janet was also a passionate supporter of women and raised strong daughters and granddaughters.

Janet had a beautiful alto voice and after retirement found enjoyment singing with the Cardinal Singers of Raleigh. She was never without a book and took great advantage of one son-in-law’s Christmas gift of a Nook account with “unlimited” access! She was also a generous loaner of the hardcover books she read, passing them along to her daughters and friends. Her softball skills, honed earlier in life, led her to dominate family cornhole tournaments.

Janet was never happier than when she was surrounded by her family. She is survived by her three daughters, Denise Long (Bruce Holiday), Sharon Hathaway (Bill), and Andrea Maron (John), and former son-in-law Doug Long. Each of her sons-in-law claim (with equal justification) to have been her favorite and assert that she is the standard by which all mothers-in-law should be measured. She also had a profound influence on seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, all of whom loved their Nana fiercely. As much as they loved her, she never failed to tell them that she “loved them more.” Janet never met a stranger and would brag about her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to anyone who would listen. She was preceded in death by her beloved son, David.

The family is grateful for the compassionate care provided initially by the nurses and physicians at Mission Hospital and later by the hospice team at Solace.

The family will have a private service and there will be a celebration of Janet’s life for residents at Givens Estate at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations or volunteer activities be made to organizations that were meaningful to Janet, including Meals on Wheels or your local elementary school, or to remember her by simply hanging a bird feeder or putting up a bluebird house. When you do, please think of Janet.

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson was on Janet’s refrigerator, and exemplifies her life:

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”