Nancy Elizabeth Apperson

It is with very sad and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our sweet mother, Nancy Elizabeth Apperson Trexler, aged 80, on Thursday, October 30, 2025. Although we grieve, we also rejoice at the Homecoming she is having with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and with our Daddy, where she has yearned to be for some time.

Nancy was born at Rowan Memorial Hospital on October 18, 1945, to the late Marvin Edward Apperson and Nellie Elizabeth Efird Apperson, weighing less than a few pounds. She wasn't expected to make it as she was born almost two months premature. She remained in the hospital for nearly half a year, trying to make it to the five-pound mark required to be discharged, but make it, she sure did!

Being an only child, that didn't stop her from having “tons of siblings” (as she called them), aka, all her “dollies”. She would set up her baby dolls in chairs and have “class” with them, saying they were the best siblings ever because they did everything she wanted them to and never argued with her. She would feed them, bathe them and put them in their little beds and love them as if they were her human siblings, and to her they were.

Nancy had a lifelong passion for fishing. She said she felt closer to God when she would go fishing. She spent numerous times out on the water (in and out of boats) whether at the ocean, a lake or pond, if there were fish to be caught, she wanted to be the one to catch them! She had so many fond memories of fishing with her parents, her husband, her kids and her best friend Doris. She could bait a hook and drop a line like nobody else!

The biggest thing that our mother wanted to be remembered for was first and foremost, her love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. She was His faithful servant until He called her Home. Next, she wanted to be remembered for loving her husband Buddy with all her heart and trying to be the best wife she could be. And lastly (and something that was so very important to her) was loving her children and being their “Mama”. She loved all her children unconditionally and always prayed they felt her love. Growing up (and being an only child) she knew she wanted a house full of kids of her own some day and God blessed her with five (Daddy said she asked for a dozen!).

The first thing people knew after meeting our precious mother was that she was a woman of God. To call her a “prayer warrior” would be an understatement! She prayed for anyone, and everyone all her life. If you asked her for prayer, you were in for something else! She loved the Lord with everything in her and made sure people knew it. Mama was the most kind, loving and humble soul to ever walk this Earth with a heart as big as the ocean. She showed kindness and forgiveness to everyone as she believed we are called to do.

Something that gave her great comfort (and also a continual lifelong learning) was her rewriting the Holy Bible word for word more than two dozen times in her adult years. Our Daddy would buy her notebook after notebook after notebook for her “Bible time”. She would rewrite every word and study it over and over again to get a better understanding of God's Word. She knew her Bible and she knew it well, so when we had questions about anything we knew we could count on Mom to educate us.

Mom graduated from South Rowan High School in 1965 and started working for Cannon Mills Plant 1 in Kannapolis. After marrying our father, she wanted to stay home with her kids and our Daddy worked more than one job to make that happen. After her last child went off to elementary school, she returned to work. She enjoyed working in textiles. She worked for Wiscassett Mills, Fieldcrest Cannon (Swink Plant) and American & Efird before later working at the Nazareth Children's Home Thrift Store where she felt like she was doing God's work by helping to earn money for the kids who lived there.

In addition to her parents and her uncle, Fountain Apperson, Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph Donald “Buddy” Trexler Sr., grandson Scott Avery Trexler, stepdaughter Robbin Trexler Baird, step-grandsons Gerald Wesley “Jerry” Trexler and Noah Thomas Baird, great-granddaughter Elizabeth Nicole Trexler, daughter-in-law Laura Ann Golliver Trexler, nephews Jeffrey Mark Brady and Gary Todd Trexler, her dachshund River and her chihuahua Brandy whom she absolutely loved like one of her own children.

Those left to cherish her memory are her children, Tammy Trexler Winstead and husband Richard, Mark Edward Trexler, Tonya Trexler Daniels and husband Stephen, Matthew Scott Trexler and wife Corinne, and Tina Trexler Brown and husband Michael; stepson Ralph Donald Trexler, Jr. “Donnie” and wife Linda and stepdaughter Jane “Janie” Trexler Fraley and husband Rick; 32 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren.

Arrangements: The family will greet friends and relatives at Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home in China Grove on Friday, November 7, 2025, from 12:00 -1:30 PM. A Celebration of Life will be held in the Northcrest Chapel of the funeral home at 1:30 PM with a graveside service to follow at Westlawn Memorial Park in China Grove.

Everyone in attendance is encouraged to wear purple or green as these were Nancy's favorite colors.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Nancy's name to one of the following: COPD Foundation PO Box 160112, Miami, FL 33116-0112 (copdfoundation.org); St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude’s place, Memphis, TN 38105 (stjude.org) or to Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, PO Box 262550, Baton Rouge, LA 70826-2550 (jsm.org).

Words of comfort and memories may be shared at www.linn-honeycutt.com.

Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home is honored to be serving the Trexler family.