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Emma Lee Fillyaw Davis
 Emma Lee Fillyaw Davis died early Monday morning at Wayne Memorial
Hospital, Goldsboro, N.C., of pulmonary complications following a
recent illness.
She was born January 12, 1922, in Lumberton, North Carolina. She
graduated from Roseboro High School and for three years was the
editor of the school newspaper, łThe Comet.˛
In 1941, she married the late McDonald Davis Jr., a graduate of the
School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Mr. Davis owned and operated a pharmacy in Roseboro, N.C., for over
twenty years. Later, he purchased Hood Brothers Pharmacy in
Smithfield and moved his family to that town. After Mr. Davisą
death, she later remarried and relocated to Goldsboro.
During the course of her life, Emma Lee worked for several newspaper
firms in eastern North Carolina as a journalist and feature writer,
including The Sampsonian, The Smithfield Herald, the Goldsboro
News-Argus, and contributing writer for the Raleigh News and
Observer. She also worked for several years for Radio Station WRRZ,
Clinton, as a copy editor and program scheduler.
Emma Lee was a secretary and Past Matron for the Roseboro Order of
the Eastern Star. She never stopped extending her knowledge even as
she grew older. In 1998, at the age of 76, she acquired a computer,
learned how to utilize various software applications, and
corresponded with friends and family through email exchanges. She
was also an avid reader, inveterate newspaper clipper, and a problem
resolver. She never met a problem she didnąt like to tackle.
On a personal level, she was known by her family and friends as a
creative person. She taught herself the art of photography and
creative writing, and wrote poetry for her children and friends, and
ran a home-based school for candy making. She was a thoughtful and
caring person of all who came into her life, and never failed to
provide comfort and love to those whom she knew. To her children,
she was a firm and caring disciplinarian, never failing to provide
guidance for the decisions and choices of her young children.
During her life in Goldsboro, Emma Lee was blessed by her many
friends at First Baptist Church and especially the Fidelis Sunday
School Class and the church pastorate.
Emma Lee is survived by four children: McDonald (Don) Davis III of
Richmond, Virginia, and wife Rebecca Vernon Davis; Mary Leigh
Barrett of Hermitage, Tennessee, and husband J. Hilton Barrett II;
Kerry Lawrence Davis of Monroe, North Carolina, and wife Wanda Gay
Davis; and Barbara Anne D. Brewer of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina,
and husband Billy Brewer. She is also survived by six grandchildren
and six great-grandchildren. She had the following sisters and
brother: the late Ruth Wells; Maxine Kendrick, Falls Church,
Virginia; Murphy Fillyaw, River Edge, New Jersey; Louise Smith,
Ayden, North Carolina; Frances Collins, of Wilmington, North
Carolina.
Funeral services will be handled by Seymour Funeral Home of
Goldsboro. Family will receive friends from 6:30 until 8 p.m.,
Wednesday, July 17, and again from 1 until 2 p.m., Thursday, July,
18.
Funeral services will be conducted in the Seymour Chapel at 2 p.m.
and interment will be at the Selma Memorial Gardens, Selma, North
Carolina.
Memorial donations may be made to First Baptist Church, 125 S. John
St., Goldsboro, N.C., 27530; or to the American Lung Association,
P.O. Box 1407, Greenville, N.C., 27835.
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