Obituaries

Jessamine “Jeppy” Shumate Calhoun, 97, passed away peacefully at ECU Health Hospice on Sunday, December 1, 2024. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and friend. She always had a smile and a laugh to share and even total strangers talked to her as if they had known her forever.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, December 8, from 2-4 p.m. at Wilkerson Funeral Home. A private graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery in Martinsville, VA, will take place at a later date.

Jeppy was born on August 13, 1927, in Martinsville, VA, to the late Whitney and Jessamine White Shumate. A graduate of the Martinsville Public Schools, she attended Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, VA, from 1946 to 1950. There, she met the man with whom she shared 63 years of marriage, Walter Thomas Calhoun. The first ten years of their marriage saw them move to several states as Walter pursued his education and ministered in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.) Jeppy obtained her teaching certificate, taught second grade and kindergarten in various schools and churches, and had three children during this time. They moved to Greenville, NC in 1960 as Walter shifted careers from ministry to teaching history at East Carolina University. Jeppy taught kindergarten for nine years in private church locations in Ayden and Greenville and fourteen years with the Greenville City Schools at Agnes Fullilove Elementary and Elmhurst Elementary. She absolutely loved teaching little children and watching them grow.

In 1988, Jeppy retired from teaching and began a long and happy retirement. She and her sister Margaret Hadden, also of Greenville, took up quilting and were both founding members of the Greenville Quilters Guild. Jeppy also enjoyed gardening, reading, and working with stained glass. Her most favorite place to be besides home was the mountain house near Floyd, VA, that she and Walter built in 1989. They split their time between Greenville and Floyd for the next 23 years often hosting family and quilt guild gatherings. The annual Shumate Family Reunion was held there for many years. Hummingbird Hill, as their mountain home was called, was their paradise until Walter’s death in 2013.

In addition to her parents, her sister Margaret and her husband Walter, Jeppy was preceded in death by her son, John Chester Calhoun. Left to cherish her memory are her son, Walter Thomas “Tom” Calhoun, II of Clayton, NC; daughter, Jann Brown and husband, Eugene, of Kinston, NC; grandson, John Chester Calhoun, II of Greenville; daughter-in-law, Mary Grace Calhoun of Hamlet, NC; and special friend and caregiver, Patricia Greene.

The family wishes to thank the nurses, doctors, and staff of ECU Health Medical Center and ECU Health Hospice, and her devoted home caregivers over the past few years for their compassionate care.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home & Crematory.