Earline Jordan Gunnells

Nellie Earline Jordan Gunnells, age 94, died peacefully at Morningside in Raleigh on June 9, 2020. She was predeceased in 2013 by her husband of 65 years, Durward Franklin Gunnells, Jr. She was born in Gadsden, Alabama on July 3, 1925 to the late John E. Jordan and Clara Coggin Jordan. She attended schools in Gadsden.

She is survived by a son, Durward (Butch) Gunnells, III of Raleigh, his wife Gail, and their three sons Jacob (Carie), Sam, and Matthew (Taylor); by a daughter, Glenda Watson of Idaho Springs, Colorado, her husband Randy, and their son Christopher; and by a great-grandson, Grayson, the son of Jacob and Carie. She dearly loved her grandsons, and was thrilled to meet and hold her great-grandson some months ago.

She was predeceased by her eight siblings: Clyde, Frank, John, Sarah, Vivian, Agnes, Ralph and Byron.

Earline met Dur before World War II in Gadsden. When he returned from Europe, she helped him graduate from Auburn University. (“Helped him” is an understatement.) They married in 1947, which branded her a Sears, Roebuck & Co. bride, as he was beginning a long career with Sears. They embarked on a whirlwind tour of the southeastern US, with stops in 14 cities. She developed a keen ability to pack and unpack, and learned never to put the suitcases in storage. She served in a variety of volunteer roles at hospitals, churches and similar venues wherever she landed. She also joined garden clubs and bridge clubs galore. They both had a knack for making friends, and did that everywhere they lived.

Earline and Dur luckily spent over 32 years in retirement, mainly at Hound Ears Club, near Boone. The number of friends they found there seemed endless. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, she took up the game of golf at the age of 51, and became the only family member with a decent swing. She was also a skillful bridge player, the kind who played conventionally, by-the-book. Her beloved husband was likewise skillful, but he preferred to bid and play by “feel.” It didn’t get much more fun than watching them play so well as partners, coupled with a large side of fussing at each other. You might say it served as a window into their lives together.

They moved to Magnolia Glen in Raleigh in 2011. Naturally, they discovered more friends. Following her husband’s death, Earline moved to Morningside in Raleigh in the summer of 2013. Morningside became her last home, stretching for more than 7 years. It turned out to be a good home. Somewhere along the trail, Earline had contracted the difficult disease of dementia. Thanks to the caring staff at Morningside, and to her own grit and gumption, she carved out a surprisingly good life there in her last years.

It was fitting that her last real journey was as a member of the team of 9 Morningside residents, plus staff and loved ones, who participated with a few thousand similar folks in the Alzheimer’s Walk at the NC Art Museum on a 95-degree day in September of 2019. Defying the skeptics who questioned their good judgment, the Morningside team walked, wheel-chaired, guzzled water, fainted and laughed out loud all along their walk. Earline naturally asked at the end, “Don’t you want to go around again?”

Earline was blessed to live a long, eventful life with her fair share of up’s and down’s. She was born and raised a Methodist, but travel and circumstance caused her occasionally to veer over into Presbyterianism. She especially loved her long association with Boone United Methodist Church.

She was elegant, salty and quick-witted. In her last years, when life challenged her the most, she met it head-on.

Special thanks are due to her many friends and caregivers at Morningside, Transitions Life Care Hospice, and Drs Making House Calls, and to her close friends Martha Ellington and Susan Arrendell.

A celebration of her life will be planned in the future.

Memorial contributions may be made to Transitions Life Care Hospice, 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh 27607.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh.