Laviece Cox Ward

Laviece was born on May 24, 1946, at Camp Lejeune, NC. The third of seven children, she was the daughter of the late Zach Davis Cox and Mary Gwin Oliver Cox of Mount Olive, NC.

Laviece was a dedicated educator, spending 40 plus years as a College Professor of English. She began her teaching career at Colorado University at Boulder while living in Estes Park, Colorado. It was at Colorado University that Laviece obtained her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in English.

After moving back to North Carolina, she quickly procured a position as an adjunct at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. From there, she taught at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and then Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. Laviece finished out the last 16 years of her career at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she helped to establish their online education program.

In addition to her teaching work, Laviece was a medieval scholar, who specialized in early printed books. She travelled around Europe studying those books, presenting papers at conferences and was a noted published author in this field. Her work on “Seville's First Illustrated Book: The 1480 Edition of the Fasciculus Temporum and Its Spanish Printers, Bartolomeo Segura and Alphonso de Puerto” is still cited by those in the field of study to this day.

Loved by her students, Laviece always received high marks when it came time for teacher reviews.

She was an avid gardener and lover of plants, having minored in botany during her undergraduate studies.

Another of her lifelong pursuits was music, in which she mastered playing piano, violin, clarinet, and recorder. She participated in community orchestras in the early part of her life, and in later years, served her local parish in music ministry by playing wood recorders in the choir pit orchestra.

Laviece loved the outdoors, especially the beach. She was a cyclist, a love she shared with her brother, Zach. They rode Cycle North Carolina together, as well as the MS150. The annual Cox family beach week would find them both gearing up for rides with the sound of surf as a backdrop.

Laviece was a doer, a make-it-happen kind of person.

She loved her family and friends, but it was her granddaughter, Rachel, who was the light of her life. All who knew her knew that to be true.

Her legacy lives on in the many lives she touched.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her brother, Zach Davis Cox, Jr., and brother-in-law, Frank Williams.

She is survived by her son, Richard J. Ward, Jr. and wife, Dawn; granddaughter, Rachel Michelle Ward; spouse, Paul D. McPeak; sisters, Gwin Lee Cox, Elizabeth Ann Cox, Mary Wooten Smith and husband, Baxter; her brothers, James Oliver Cox and wife, Ruthann Nelson, and John Needham Cox and wife, Clare; her sister-in-law, Rosemary Bonin and husband, John; her brother-in-law, Harry McPeak and wife, Jane; and ten nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends and guests on Thursday, April 6, 2023, from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Apex Funeral Home followed by a service at 6:00 PM. The service will be live-streamed on the funeral home Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ApexFuneral. A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, at 1:00 PM at St. Bernadette Catholic Church with placement in the columbarium to follow.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be donated to Spring Arbor Assisted Living Facility, Apex, North Carolina, Alzheimer’s Association, or Transitions LifeCare of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Fond memories and expressions of condolences can be shared online at apexfuneral.net for the Ward family.