Rebecca "Becky" Jane Sweet

TARBORO - Rebecca "Becky" Jane Sweet passed away peacefully on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, at The Fountains at the Albemarle where she had been a resident since September 2016.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, September 16, 2019, at 2 PM in the chapel of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 401 E. 4th Street, Greenville. A reception in the Parish Hall will follow the service.

The beloved daughter of the late Mary Armstrong Jackson and Thomas Edgar Sweet, Becky was born on October 27, 1952, in Richmond, Virginia. She graduated from Douglas Freeman High School in 1971 and earned undergraduate degrees from Emory and Henry College in 1975 and Virginia Commonwealth University in 1989. She earned graduate degrees from the University of Virginia in 1979 and Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002.

Becky was a gifted, award-winning interior designer. For twelve years, she worked in both residential and commercial design with firms in Virginia and the NC Outer Banks and, from 1991 to 1993, owned her own design firm in Richmond. Following completion of the Master of Fine Arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002, Becky accepted a faculty appointment at East Carolina University in the former Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design Department, College of Human Ecology.

She excelled at teaching interior design principles to her students and was innovative in incorporating her professional design experience with her educational experience. She also brought her sense of play into the design classroom, formulating such exercises as Nature as Teacher, Objects and Spaces, and Music as Form, Space, and Order. She made several conference presentations and published articles on the theory behind the Nature as Teacher exercise. One presentation won an award for her and Dr. Katherine Swank at the Interior Design Educators Council conference in 2013.

One of Becky's proudest accomplishments was the instrumental role she played in launching a local chapter of the non-profit organization Rebuilding Together. She served as founding president of the Pitt County chapter and secured grant funds and donations that enabled the chapter to renovate several homes on West Fourth Street. Her efforts led to her induction into ECU's Servire Society in 2009.

She was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church where she served on the Flower and the Visual Arts Guilds, volunteered with their food pantry, assisted with Hosts and Helpers, and participated in the church's book club.

Becky will be lovingly remembered as an award-winning interior designer, an innovative professor of design, a devoted and generous colleague and friend, and a lover of dogs, the Beatles, a good round of golf, and the beach. She had a joy for life and an infectious laugh that made being in her company a happy occasion.

In addition to her parents, Becky was predeceased by her husband, James Hale Elliot.

She is survived by special friends: Joyce Foster and Buie Harwood of Richmond, Sally Wolfe of Williamsburg, and Betsy Markowski, Charles Gustina, Arlinda and Archie Applewhite, Fran McKinney, and Lou McNamee, all of Greenville. She is also survived by several Sweet family cousins in Pennsylvania.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a memorial gift in Becky's honor are asked to consider St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 401 E. 4th Street, Greenville, NC 27858; Rebuilding Together Pitt County, P.O. Box 31006, Greenville, NC 27833; or the Department of Interior Design and Merchandising, East Carolina University, by contacting Professor Gustina at [email protected].

Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home and Crematory. Online condolences at www.WilkersonFuneralHome.com.

As published in The Daily Reflector

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Daily Reflector on Sep. 12, 2019.