Eunice Virginia Stearns was born on Tuesday, 23 January 1906, at her parents home at 1006 N. Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC. She was the ninth of ten children, and fourth daughter, born to Dulin Benson Stearns (1863-1962) and Mary Jane Beachum (1867-1910). Her paternal grandparents were Dulin Stearns (c.1836-1863) and his wife Rusha Elizabeth King (1837-1894) of Union County, NC; and, her maternal grandparents were Jeremiah Washington Beachum (1830-1910) and his wife Mary Jane Taylor (1836-1882), of Anson County, NC.

At the time of Eunice's birth, her paternal great great grandfather, Rev. Harmon Daniel King (1805-1906), was still living, and had recently celebrated his 100th birthday. Harmon was the son of another Harmon King who was a Soldier of the Revolution. Both her grandfathers, Jeremiah Beachum and Dulin Stearns, were Confederate soldiers.

Eunice's family roots ran deep into the State of North Carolina. Her father's fathers people had come to Mecklenburg County, NC from Virginia in the 1760s. Her father's mother's people were from Old Camden District in South Carolina. Her mother's father's people had come from Virginia (where they had lived since the 1600s) to Anson County, NC at the time of the Revolution, and some of her mother's mother's people go back to the very early 1700s in NC. Family names associated with her ancestral lines were: Stearns/Starnes, King, Flye/Fley, Ritch, Wentz, Richardson, Beachum/ Beauchamp, Shelton, O'Neal, Taylor, McLendon, Yarborough and Hudson.

Eunice's mother passed away tragically young on 26 Jan. 1910, just 3 days after her (Eunice's) fourth birthday. She was cared for in her childhood by her older sister, Faye (later Mrs. C. C. Fesperman), and her nursemaid Ella. She spent the summers visiting her mother's relatives in Anson County. In 1913, her father remarried, to Miss Nancy Virginia Eagle of Statesville, and in 1916, the family moved from Charlotte to the town of Statesville, Iredell County, NC.

Eunice was a popular student at the Statesville High School, was called "the shooting star" of the girls' basketball team, sang in the glee club and competed in horse shows. She was a member of the Broad Street Methodist Church. She loved to play bridge, and do fine needlework, and designed and made exquisite clothes for herself and later for her daughter. She entertained at elegant bridge parties and dinner parties when she was still in high school.... something she continued to do all her life. She attended Queens College in Charlotte and Greensboro College in Greensboro, NC, and was a member of the Phi Mu Sorority.

On 13 Oct. 1929, she married John Levi Field (1899-1963. a son of Ernest Marion Field and Mary Rhetta Bell) of Cabarrus Co., NC and Greenville, SC. He was a graduate of Columbia University in New York, and had been associated with her brothers in real estate ventures in Statesville. They began their married life in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had accepted a position designing roads and bridges for the Missouri highway department. They later moved to South Georgia, and eastern NC, where he pursued the same career. The NC highway department sent John Field to Marion, NC in 1941, and when he was going to be transferred to another place, he determined to stay, and started his own land surveying and engineering company.

In the 1930s, Eunice cared for the children of one of her brother's whose wife had died. During the second World War, she decided, with so many men gone, that it was her duty to go to work, and she served on the Rationing Board in Marion for several years. She also cared for a brother who had become ill during this time. After the war, she said she was looking forward to her "retirement" and being able to sleep late, but two close family friends, Dr. George Rowe and Dr. L. William Hagna, asked her to help out "for a few days" in their office, as their office manager had left, "just til they could find someone." She was there more than 30 years, as she said "the oldest temporary job on record." By the end, people in town considered her as much of a medical authority as either of the doctors.

Her home was always open to friends and relatives, and her hospitality was legendary. On Christmas and Thanksgiving, and most Sundays, she would invite friends, widows and childless couples, or people whose families lived far away, to come spend the day with our family, because she hated to think of anyone being alone. The house was always packed to the walls, but everyone had a wonderful time.

Eunice and John Field had one daughter, Joanna Field, who married Kenneth O. Pankow in 1962, and one grandson, John Field Pankow, the writer of this tribute. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Marion. She died on Wednesday, 1 June 1983, in Asheville, and is buried next to her husband at Oak Grove Cemetery in Marion.

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies....Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come...She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness...She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness...Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."
Proverbs, Chapter 31.