Rebecca Thompson Rhine

Born on April 21st 1951, to Alice (Debbie) Day Thompson and John Thompson in Niagara Falls, New York, she was the middle of three sisters. As the family followed her father’s career with Dupont, she was raised in Kinston, North Carolina before moving to Hamm, Germany at fifteen where she attended Windsor Girls School. There she began a lifelong love of travel, history, and literature.

She attended East Carolina University before becoming one of the first regional saleswomen in the Southeast. While living in Charlotte, she met the love of her life Don Rhine at a work golf tournament and they spent 38 happy years together. After spending a few years in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, they moved to Wilmington, NC in 1986. Together, they developed Pelican Reef in Hampstead, where she was proud to have created a community where nature and history were preserved.

Rebecca loved reading, animals, golf, and gardening. She was a member of the Temple of Israel, and she and Don created the Rhine Family Endowment for Jewish History at UNCW. She was an active volunteer, including serving on the boards of Opera House Theatre company and the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society and coaching Topsail Middle School’s Battle of the Books team. A fan of Wake Forest, the Cleveland Browns, and Minnesota Vikings, she loved football - even in defeat.

She loved children and always had an open ear and a smile. Her family was the joy of her life and she was thrilled to live to become “Grandbecs”/ “Beebecs” and to watch her eldest grandchildren, nieces, and nephews begin adventures of their own.

A self-described Pollyanna, Becky found joy even in life’s challenges and never met a stranger. Only Rebecca could go to a restaurant in Arezzo and leave with the owner as a lifelong pen pal. Her spirit awed her loved ones and the extraordinary team at UNC Cancer hospital where she defied her Stage IV cancer diagnosis for seven years with unwavering positivity.

She is survived by her daughter Rachel Rhine and husband, Jeremiah Carlson; stepson Joel Rhine and wife, Alice; stepdaughter Jennifer Dillee and husband, Ron; and the daughter of her heart, Jaliese Blackburn and husband, Gatlin. She also leaves her beloved grandchildren Henry and Robert Carlson, Michael and Julia Rhine, and Hardy and Hatcher Blackburn; her sister, Elizabeth Becka; stepsister, Laura Cowen; brother-in-law Randy Symes; nieces Heather McGee (Thomas), Caitlin Becka (Victor Shalaev), and Kelly Licquia; and great-nephews Owen and Ben McGee. She is lovingly remembered by the Schmitz and Day families, as well as “her girls” and their little ones.

She joins her beloved husband, Don; her parents; her beloved stepfather Fitzhugh Wallace; her sister, Debbie Symes; and nephew, Cody Day.

The funeral will be held Thursday. September 17th, 2026, at 11:30 am at the Temple of Israel followed by interment at the Temple of Israel Cemetery. Friends are welcome to gather with family following the burial at the Reibman Center, 922 Market Street, Wilmington. Rebecca's family has requested that friends and family in attendance feel free to wear colorful attire in celebration of her joy-filled life.

In lieu of flowers, donations to UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Fund or Pender Animal Shelter are welcomed.