Sandra Elizabeth Hunsucker

Sandra Elizabeth Hunsucker, 85, passed away very peacefully on Thursday, October 16, 2025, at her home in Winterville with her brother and niece by her side and Joan Baez's songs playing softly in the background. A Celebration of Life service will be held on December 20, 2025, at 2:00 PM at Winterville Christian Church, followed by a reception in the church's fellowship hall. A native of Winterville, Sandra was born on September 30, 1940, to the late Wayland Louis and Lucy Bett Abbott Hunsucker. She was a 1958 graduate of Winterville High School and completed a BS in Secondary Education in English with a minor in Social Studies at East Carolina College in 1962. In 1965, she received an M.A.Ed. in English from East Carolina with a certification in counseling. That same year, she was inducted into Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary society for women educators. Sandra loved all things ECU and seldom missed a Pirate football game. In the fall of 1962, Sandra began teaching language arts at Havelock Jr. High, as there were no openings at Havelock High. In 1967, she was offered a position at Havelock High School and was thrilled that her dream of teaching high school English had become a reality. Being single her entire life, Sandra "married" Havelock High School-as anyone who knew her can attest-probably spending more hours on campus than any of her peers. She also taught evening classes at Havelock High for both Craven Community College and ECU. Additionally, she taught summer school at Havelock High and at Craven Community College for 12 years. Throughout her teaching career, Sandra regularly hosted her fellow educators on weekends at her home on Cedar Creek in Havelock, where the group would enjoy all kinds of seafood and an occasional adult beverage to unwind after a long week of teaching. Sandra loved the beach-basking in the sun while reading a novel or grading papers at her favorite spot, the Oceanana Pier-after stopping at her favorite hot dog spot, El's. During her 28 years at Havelock High, Sandra served as English Department Chair for 23 years, led the drama program for 26 years and directed annual plays, and coached both the varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders for 24 years. She drove the cheerleaders to all away games in an activity bus and led them to numerous conference championships and Universal Cheerleading Association titles. In addition, Sandra served as faculty advisor to the student newspaper and established the school's first literary magazine. She believed that experience was the most effective teacher and frequently took her students on trips to dramatic performances in Raleigh and at ECU. For ten years Sandra worked with Cultural Heritage Alliance, arranging and chaperoning student trips throughout the British Isles and Central Europe to enhance her students' studies of literature and history. Sandra retired in 1995-earlier than she had planned-and returned to Winterville to care for her mother. She continued serving others in her hometown just as she had in Havelock. Back in Winterville, she quickly became involved in the Winterville Historical and Arts Society, Inc., where she was instrumental in the restoration of the Cox-Ange house. Working with LaRue Evans, she wrote numerous grants to help fund the project-the current site of the Winterville Museum. She also served on the committee to bring the Winterville Depot from the Village of Yesteryear back to its home in Winterville and served many years as secretary of WHAS. Sandra joined the Pitt County Historical Society, serving as its president from 1999 to 2002 and for many years as corresponding secretary. She chaired the committee to reprint the original Chronicles of Pitt County and served as executive editor and committee chair for Chronicles of Pitt County, Volume II, published in 2005. Her brother, Abbott, can attest that for over a year, every flat surface in their mother's Church Street home was covered with Pitt County's towns and family histories, waiting to be organized, indexed, and assembled into the 1,046-page Chronicles, Vol. II. Additionally, Sandra served as president of the Sans Souci Book Club in Winterville, was a board member of Sheppard Memorial Library, and was active on Winterville's Centennial Celebration Committee. In addition to her many service activities during retirement, Sandra led international group trips to destinations throughout Europe and Asia, often accompanied by relatives and lifelong friends. Sandra could not have been a better sibling to her sister, Sue Ellen, and her brother, Abbott. She adored her two nephews and five nieces, and they adored her. She nurtured them with gifts of time, money, and energy, taking them on trips, hosting them in Havelock for extended visits (with many outings to the coast), and providing them with special opportunities for learning-from alligator hunting and crabbing expeditions to international travel. She loved dearly her family, her friends, her two communities, Havelock High School, her students (though they may not have realized it at the time), her many Yorkies, her convertibles, and the beach. Her total dedication to the thousands of students she inspired, her care for her parents and extended family, her devotion to her nieces and nephews, and her tireless efforts to preserve the history of Winterville and Pitt County will remain her time-honored legacy. In addition to her parents, Sandra was preceded in death by her brother-in-law, Ben O. Bridgers; her niece, Jane Bennett Bridgers; and her great-nephew, Quentin Moss. She is survived by her sister, Sue Ellen Bridgers of Sylva; her brother, Abbott Hunsucker, and his wife, Candy Nichols, of Winterville; and the following nieces and nephews: Elizabeth Bridgers and partner, John Shoemaker, of Weaverville; Sean Bridgers and wife, Rachel, of Sylva; Matthew Hunsucker and wife, Kim, of Raleigh; Megan Hunsucker Fader and husband, Corey, of Kinston; Caitlin Hunsucker Forman and husband, Ben, of Wendell; and Melissa Hunsucker and husband, Todd Weakley, of Asheville. She is also survived by 16 great-nieces and great-nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to: Winterville Historical and Arts Society, P.O. Box 2014, Winterville, NC 28590; Winterville Christian Church, 257 Cooper St., Winterville, NC 28590, or Pitt County Historical Society, 202 Churchill Dr., Greenville, NC 27858. Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home and Crematory.

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