Miriam Hancock Staton

Greensboro: Miriam Hancock Staton passed away peacefully on June 10, 2015. Born in Guilford County, NC on October 20, 1927 to Calvin Austin Hancock and Etta Ione Koontz Hancock, she is survived by her brother Charles Edward Hancock (Diane), her son James Brooks Staton III (Deborah), her daughter Martha Lynne Swaringen (Joe), her daughter-in-law Ashley Elmore Staton, her grandchildren James Brooks Swaringen (Kelly), Jennifer Staton Kreick (Kyle), Jonathan Calvin Staton, and Joe Ritchie Swaringen Jr. Miriam was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years James Brooks Staton Jr., her brother John Randolph Hancock, her sister Cynthia Ann Qualle, and her son Michael Austin Staton.

Miriam grew up in Guilford County on her father’s Tanglewood Dairy farm and was a member of Buffalo Presbyterian Church. She graduated from Rankin High School, and later graduated from Women’s College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC-Greensboro). Miriam married the love of her life on July 11, 1948 while he was a student at Wake Forest University. During his professional football career, she lived in Washington, DC and Montreal, Canada, but her heart was always in North Carolina. After football, they returned to Greensboro, where she taught briefly at Jesse Wharton School. In 1963 she and her husband established Jim Staton Distributing Company, where she worked for 37 years overseeing the company’s finances. She was known in the business as balancing every account to the penny, and a large part of the success of the company came from her contributions.

After retiring in 2000, she enjoyed traveling with her sister-in-law Mary Ann, seeing England, Canada, the western United States, and the US Virgin Islands together. She had a passion for reading and loved to work in her garden, and she loved being with her grandchildren. She also loved sports, coaching a girl’s basketball team and following her husband’s football career, but her real enjoyment came from attending Wake Forest basketball games and watching the Atlanta Braves.

Miriam was a wonderful mother not only to her children, but to her nephews and nieces as well. When her sister Cynthia was hospitalized unexpectedly in 1963, she added three children to her family, doubling its size just as she and her husband were starting their business.

Miriam will be missed by all of her family including her sister-in-law Mary Ann Hancock, nephews Cordie Randolph Qualle, John David Hancock, Donald Randolph Hancock, and Charles Edward Hancock Jr.; nieces Miriam Qualle White, Eleanor Ione Love, Martha Hancock Smith, Lane Hancock Bauserman, Paula Hancock Pearson.

A celebration of Miriam’s life will be held Saturday, June 13 at 4pm in the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church and the family will visit with friends following the service in the Virginia Gilmer room at church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church, 617 N. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401, Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro, 2500 Summit Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27405, or the James B. Staton Jr. Athletic/Academic Excellence Scholarship Fund, Wake Forest University, 499 Deacon Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27105. In line condolences may be made through www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.