MARIE MOREADITH 3/4/1933 - 5/11/2014 Marie Moreadith passed away quietly at her home in Wilmington on Mother's Day May 11th, 2014. She was 81 years of age. Marie was born in Cove City, North Carolina where she married her soulful partner Ralph Wade Moreadith, who remained her partner in life until his death in July 2004. She grew up working the farm, graduated from Fort Barnwell High School in 1951 where she was a decorated athlete, and married Ralph soon after graduation. As a young mother of three children she continued to work the farm while her husband Ralph supported the family as a young man in the Merchant Marines. In 1960 the young couple moved to Leland, North Carolina where Ralph worked as a construction worker and Marie tended her home and children. Marie and Ralph had three children - the late Debbie Blake of Wilmington, North Carolina, the late Steven Carlysle Moreadith of North Dakota, and she is survived by her remaining son Randall Wade Moreadith of Huntsville, Alabama. She is also survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Marie was a dedicated homemaker all of her life, a devoted wife and mother who lived a life of simple truths. Later in life she became an avid reader, devouring a half dozen books a week on subjects as diverse as US history, espionage and the beginnings of the universe. She was self-taught and up until her death she could carry a conversation on subjects from the meaning of life and the latest politics in Washington, DC to the realms beyond our solar system. She had developed an insatiable thirst for new knowledge and never lost it. The ocean breathed life into Marie and Ralph. Both were avid fishermen and spent their weekends along the coast catching fish, harvesting oysters or shrimping. Their neighborhood fish fry dinners were one of their greatest joys, sharing stories of the ones that got away and the ones they would catch the next time out. They loved nature, and tended their garden with the same care they tended their lives. At her request she will be cremated and reside in a niche at Greenlawn Memorial Park, Oleander Memorial Gardens, beside her partner in life Ralph, until such time as their ashes may be buried at sea together. Services to commemorate her life will be held at 4 PM on May 24th at Greenlawn Memorial Park, 306 Bradley Drive, Wilmington, NC, Oleander Memorial Gardens in the Sunrise Mausoleum chapel.

Published in the Wilmington Star-News on May 15, 2014