Leona Ingram

Obituary: Leona Graybeal Ingram, age 92, died Sunday, April 24, 2016 at Caremoor Retirement Center, Kannapolis, NC after four months of declining health. She was born September 12, 1923 in Ashe County, NC, the daughter of the late Arley Lee Graybeal and Annie Church Graybeal. Leona was a 1940 graduate of Cannon High School. She worked for the former Cannon Mills Company, Plant One, Washcloth Department and had worked for the company for forty-three years until her retirement. After her retirement she volunteered twenty-seven years at NorthEast Medical Center formerly Cabarrus Memorial Hospital of which fifteen years of that time was in the George A. Batte, Jr. Center for Cancer. Leona was a member of the First Baptist Church, Kannapolis, NC where she taught Sunday School and helped in Vacation Bible School in earlier years and was presently a member in the Adult Four Sunday School Dept. She had previously attended many of the senior citizen activities and trips at the church where she also had sung in the senior choir. She is fondly remembered as a very loving mother who was always there to provide for their needs. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her loving husband, Claude Ingram in 1993; a brother, Denver Graybeal in 2002; and her son-in-law, Dr. Herb L. Rice in 2008. The funeral service will be held at 11:30 AM Thursday, April 28, 2016 at Whitley's Funeral Home Main Chapel, Kannapolis, NC officiated by Dr. Thomas E. Cabaniss and Pastor Arthur W. Peterman, III. Entombment will follow at Carolina Memorial Park Chapel Mausoleum, Kannapolis, NC. The family will receive friends from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Thursday at the funeral home prior to the service. Survivors include her daughter, Barbara I. Rice of Brookland, AR; her granddaughter, Sirena M. (Shelly) and her husband, Arthur W. Peterman, III of Jonesboro, AR; her great-grandson, Arthur W. "Will" Peterman, IV of Jonesboro, AR; and a number of nieces and nephews. Because Barbara lived in Pennsylvania and Arkansas over the past thirty-eight years, there was a special nephew and niece, Dennis G. Graybeal and Betty Benson who were always there to meet any needs that arose in her life when Barbara was unable to get home. Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 101 N. Main Street, Kannapolis, NC 28081. On-line condolences may be left at www.whitleysfuneralhome.com.
Visitation: 10:00 - 11:30 A.M. Thursday April, 28, 2016 Whitley's Funeral Home

Service: 11:30 A.M. Thursday April 28, 2016 Whitley's Funeral Home Chapel

Interment: Carolina Memorial Park Mausoleum Kannapolis, N.C.