Fannie Leak

LILESVILLE, N.C. — Fannie Pecolia Dixon Leak entered into the presence of the Lord on Monday, Feb. 16, 2015 at 7:26 p.m. at the FirstHealth Hospice and Palliative Care in Pinehurst, North Carolina, surrounded by her children.

Born the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and Odessa Dixon of Lilesville, North Carolina, on Sept. 23, 1924, Pecolia was initially named Emma Marie Dixon by the midwife who assisted her birth. Unknown to the family, who thought the name they had chosen, Fannie Pecolia Dixon, was her name, they called her Fannie Pecolia all of her youth. It wasn't until she applied to work as a "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II that she realized the truth about her name. So at the age of 16, she officially changed her birth certificate to read Fannie Pecolia Dixon.

Pecolia joined Centenary A.M.E. Zion Church in Lilesville at a young age. As her parents and older sister, Pearlie, she was very active in church. Pecolia loved Centenary because of its rich history in service to God. The church was built in the 1700s. Her grandfather, the Rev. Jim Dixon, was the pastor of the church at one time. At Centenary and throughout Anson County and Richmond County, Pecolia sang with her father, sister Pearlie and cousin Frank, who was like a brother, in a quartet called the Silvertones. She was trained and supported in her singing by both her parents, Jackson and Odessa Dixon. Pecolia has been a member of Centenary more than 80 years. Later in her church services at Centenary, she sold fish plates and pledged money to help the church become debt-free.

Pecolia entered school at the age of 5. She graduated at age 16 from Henry Grove School when the 11th grade was the highest grade level to reach. Thanks to her Aunt Golda Mae, her father's sister, Pecolia and her sister Pearlie attended 12th grade at a boarding school in Wadesboro. Following the 12th grade boarding school experience, Pecolia trained in the youth program, National Youth Administration, started by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. NYA was a program for youth, ages 16-25, during the 1940s, who wanted to further their education.

After four months of training in the NYA, Pecolia was sent to Ports Smith, Virginia, to be trained further as an electrician who worked on the ships at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia. Joining other "Rosie the Riveters" during the 1940s, Pecolia worked for two years on ships at the Norfolk Navy Yard, spending most of her time on the USS Shangri-La. In this ship, she crawled around the various compartments to help with light fixtures and lay cables for the ship. Pecolia took some of the money she earned as a "Rosie the Riveter" to purchase the home in Pee Dee, North Carolina, and some to go to college.

After the "Rosie the Riveter" years, Pecolia attended Elizabeth City Teachers College in Elizabeth City for one year. She trained initially to become a teacher like her Aunt Golda Mae Dixon, Aunt Mary Ratliff and other relatives in the Dixon and Ratliff families. After completing one year at ECTC, she worked in the cafeteria in Anson County Hospital during the summer to pay for her second year at ECTC. There she met the love of her life, Mr. Fletcher Thomas Leak of Wadesboro.

Pecolia joined in holy matrimony with Fletcher T. Leak on Nov. 14, 1947. In this union, eight children were conceived with one dying before birth: Fletcher Thomas Jr., Josephine, Andrew, Gaston, Tonye, Ricardo and Linda. Pecolia and her family lived in many places in North Carolina and Virginia, finally settling in her home town of Pee Dee in 1959 with her seven children. In addition to raising her children, she also helped her mother and father raise her nephew, Richard, who she considered one of her sons.

It was in 1959 that Pecolia discovered her love of nursing. She started at the Wadesboro Nursing Home in Wadesboro as a nurse assistant. Several years in this role, she went back to school at Anson Technical Community College in Anson County in her late 40s, earning a degree in nursing. She passed the state nursing exam on the first attempt. She worked as a nurse at the Anson County Hospital (Wadesboro), Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital (Charlotte), Carolina Medical Hospital (Charlotte) and Union County Hospital (Monroe). The majority of her nursing career, almost 40 years, was done at the Wadesboro Nursing Home, now Ambassador Living Center, in Wadesboro. Pecolia retired from nursing at age 74.

Civically, Pecolia was actively involved in advocating for the needs of her community, the Pee Dee section of Lilesville, in terms of water and sewer services, garbage pickup, better streets and roads, more secure mailboxes and better housing. She was responsible for helping with a HUD grant that refurbished many of the homes in Pee Dee. She made sure all of the seniors in her community had transportation to vote in all elections. For widows and other women in her community without transportation, she would take them every month to get their groceries and pay their bills for many years.

When Pecolia's health began to fail after retirement, and unable to stay alone at the house she built in Pee Dee, she began living with her children, Ricardo, Linda, Gaston and Josephine. In 1998, she began to live more with her daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Carroll in Chapel Hill, with periodic trips to her other children in Richmond County and Cary, North Carolina. After two strokes in 2009, she continued to live with Josephine and Carroll for almost a year until she required more skilled services. For four and a half years, she was a resident of the Pinehurst Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Pinehurst.

Along with her parents who preceded her in death are her husband, Fletcher Thomas Leak Sr.; son, the Rev. Fletcher Thomas Leak Jr.; and daughter, Tonye Leak Gaddy.

She leaves to cherish her memory five children, the Rev. Dr. Josephine Leak Harris (Carroll) of Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Andrew Jackson Leak of the home in Pee Dee, Gaston Julius Leak (Pat) of Cary, the Rev. Ricardo Leak (Mary) of Lilesville and Minister Linda Pecolia Leak Russell (Herman) of Hamlet. She also leaves a special nephew who is like a son, Richard Dixon (Gerri) of Belleville, Michigan; 25 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren; two aunts, Janice Ratliff of Morven and Frances Ratliff of Morven; and a host of relatives and friends.

Paid obituary

The Richmond County Daily Journal

Friday, Feb. 20, 2015