SMITHFIELD – Anne Dupré Lumpkin Beach, age 75, passed away on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill as a result of complications from COVID-19.
Anne was born on October 8, 1945 in Charleston, SC to the late Reverend William Wallace Lumpkin and the late Dallas Hirst Lumpkin. She moved to Pittsburgh, PA in 1948 and then to Rock Hill, SC in 1951 where she spent the rest of her childhood. After graduating from Rock Hill High School, she double-majored in English and History at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, where she was inducted into the USC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, was one of 36 USC students selected for the 1967 edition of ‘Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities’, and graduated with high honors in 1967. She then earned her master’s degree in History at the University of Georgia. She married Robert H. Beach, Jr. in 1968 while in graduate school. The couple moved to Virginia and then Pennsylvania, where they raised their children on their dairy farm in Halifax, PA for 20 years before moving to North Carolina.
Anne was a devoted mother who focused on ensuring that her children were able to pursue their interests and passions. Before her first child was born and again as her youngest children got older, she taught at colleges in Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and was a substitute teacher for Halifax Area School District. She loved taking pictures, journaling and scrapbooking, antiques, history, genealogy, and traveling to new places, but most of all she enjoyed talking to and spending time with her family and friends. One of her favorite times of year was the annual Lumpkin family reunion in Edisto Beach, SC. All year long, she looked forward to the opportunity to return to the beach and see her extended family. In late 2020, Anne published a memoir, Weeds Growing through the Bottom of the Boat, to preserve childhood memories of summers spent at her family’s beloved Edisto Island for her extended family and future generations.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother William W. Lumpkin, Jr. and granddaughter Susannah.
Mrs. Beach is survived by her husband of 52 years, Robert Henry Beach, Jr.; her four children and 17 grandchildren: Robert Henry Beach, III and his wife Rachel Lynn Beach (Andrew, Ashley, Benjamin, Rebecca, Emily, Samuel, Matthew, Jacob, and Clara); Dallas Elizabeth Griswold and her husband James William Griswold (Sarah, Maxwell, and Ryan), David Wallace Beach and his wife Kellee Brown Beach (Caden and Cabrie), and Lauren Hope Beach Wilkins (Sawyer, Silas, and Salem); six brothers and sisters: Dallas Lumpkin Garbee and her husband Richard Eldridge Garbee, Dr. Arthur Hirst Lumpkin and his wife Karen Taylor Lumpkin, Dr. Alexander Henderson Lumpkin and his wife Dr. Janice Park Lumpkin, Elisabeth (Betty) Lumpkin Gregory and her husband John Demetrius Gregory, Reverend Michael Robertson Lumpkin and his wife Ellen Bennett Lumpkin, and Julia Lumpkin Kana and her husband Dr. Timothy William Kana; as well as many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, there will be a small private memorial service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Smithfield, NC. Interment at Trinity Episcopal Church, Edisto Island, SC, will take place at a later date.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.mclaurinatpinecrest.com.
The service may be watched live on zoom by reaching the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85199608531?pwd=cWxIZzMxSlgyOWtkZDI0TUp5aGZlUT09
McLaurin Funeral Home in Clayton is honored to be assisting the Beach family.
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