I’m sharing my mother’s obituary today.
Shelvia Auline Thompson Toler, aged 84, skipped into Heaven early Friday morning, January 21, 2022 in WakeMed of Raleigh. She was born September 28, 1937 in Johnston County, to the late Gilbert and Eva Madre Lane Thompson and was the widow of Bobby Gray Toler, who passed away on December 16, 2020. Auline worked as program assistant with the Johnston County ASCS Office in Smithfield for 30 years before retiring in 1996.
She was a longtime member of the Princeton Baptist Church where she and her husband began and taught the Spirit Seekers Sunday School class for many years. With her husband, Auline began the Prison Ministry at Princeton Baptist and enjoyed cultivating relationships with several inmates at the Johnston Correctional Facility. She served on numerous committees in the church and participated in several mission trips including ones to Honduras, Poland, and Alaska with her husband.
For her community, Auline volunteered as a Cub Scout leader, took Meals on Wheels for many years, and served as Relief Staff Member at Deer Valley Family Camp in Fort Hill, Pennsylvania for three summers. She enjoyed cooking, reading, flowers, walking, being with her family, feeding her family, talking about her family, and traveling with her husband, especially to Germany to visit friends there.
Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 a.m. Friday, January 28, 2022 in Princeton Baptist Church and live -streamed on the church’s Facebook page with her son, the Rev. Richard Toler and the Rev. Dwayne Batten officiating. Her daughter, Hope Toler Dougherty, will give the eulogy. The family will receive friends Thursday night, January 27th, from 6-8pm at 309 Toler Road Princeton, from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. in the fellowship hall at the church prior to the service, and immediately following the service at the Princeton Cemetery.
Surviving are her daughter, Hope and her husband Kevin of Smithfield; son, Richard and his wife Jennifer of Princeton; grandchildren, Anna, Hattie, Lane, and Quinn Dougherty; Sarah (Jonathan) Hartley, Daniel, Will, and Gray Toler; great grandsons, Paul Toler and Gideon Hartley, a sister, Sue Ennis of Leland and three aunts, Dr. Janice Thompson of Smithfield, Audrey Brown of Kenly, and Lib Lane of Smithfield as well as many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests considering making donations to the Acts 1:8 Missions Fund at Princeton Baptist Church, P. O. Box 215, Princeton, NC 27569, the Princeton Public Library, PO Box 500, Princeton, NC, 27569, or a charity of your choice.
As much as the family rejoices that our mother is reunited with the love of her life, our father, we covet prayers for living life with the enormous hole they leave. We love them. We miss them. We look forward to seeing them again.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at parrishfh.com.
slburnham says
I can only imagine how proud she must have been of your writing, and the way your gift has brought joy to so many.
Difficult day. God Bless….
Hope Toler Dougherty says
She was my biggest cheerleader! Thank you so much, Sharon!