Laura Estelle Horton

Laura Horton

Laura Horton WILMINGTON- Miss Laura Estelle Horton, formerly of York, born January 22, 1922, passed away on December 26, 2011, at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice and Life Care Center in Wilmington, North Carolina. Miss Horton had been a temporary resident of Wilmington for almost the past seven years. Born in Iredell County, North Carolina, Miss Horton was the daughter of the late Joseph Ernest and Estelle Tolbert Horton. She was pre-deceased by brothers Ernest Lee Horton, Charles Henry Horton, and Robert Davis Horton sisters Jeanette Horton Kelly (deceased husband Melvin Lindsay Kelly), Ida Horton Bankhead (deceased husband Richard Brown Bankhead), and Eugenia Horton Jackson Barron (husband John Ingram Barron) and nephew Melvin Lindsay Kelly, Jr. (wife Blanche Kelly Bryant). She retired in 1986 after 45 years as a legal secretary with a Charlotte, North Carolina law firm. She served as church clerk for the First Baptist Church of York for 62 years, the longest serving clerk in her church’s history. For the first few years after her retirement, she enjoyed traveling in Europe with tour groups. She is survived by her sister Elizabeth Horton Hall (husband William W. Hall) of Wilmington nephews Richard Brown Bankhead, Jr. (wife Pat) of Washington state, Thomas Elliott Jackson, Jr., of Sharon, South Carolina, and William W. Hall, Jr. (wife Mary Ann) of Wilmington grand nephews Richard Brown Bankhead, III (wife Ann) and Christopher Duncan Bankhead, both of Washington state and grand nieces Amanda Hall Gallagher (husband James) of Durham, North Carolina, Stacy Hall Lenarcic (husband Justin) of Charlotte, North Carolina, Hope Kelly Maske (husband Robert) of Charlotte, North Carolina, Jeanette Kelly Roseberry (husband Johnathan) of Lancaster, South Carolina. Visitation will be held from 10-11 AM on Thursday, December 29, 2011, in the Ladies Parlor of the First Baptist Church of York, South Carolina, with funeral services in the sanctuary at 11 AM with the Rev. Trey Doyle officiating and internment at Lakeview Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the First Baptist Church of York, 102 South Congress Street, York, South Carolina 29745 or the Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation, 1406 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina 28401. Online condolences for the family can be made at www.brattonfuneralhome.com. Bratton Funeral Home of York is serving Miss Horton’s family.