Geraldine "Geri" Adair

Obituary Geraldine "Geri" Pearson Adair, 89, of Beaufort, died Thursday, March 17, 2016 at Home Place of New Bern. A funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m., Monday, March 21, 2016 at Ann Street United Methodist Church with the pastor, Rev. Dennis M. Goodwin officiating. Interment will follow at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, Cemetery. Geraldine "Geri" Adair was born in the quiet town of Great Falls, South Carolina on December 8th,1926, the town where her mother was raised. On the eve of WWII, her father moved the family to Jacksonville, North Carolina where work awaited aboard the rapidly expanding Camp Lejeune. Geri graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1943 and soon began studies at Women's College of North Carolina, now University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During the war years, she often returned to Jacksonville and various summer jobs, including working at the local USO. Geri was an art major, and her studies occasionally took her away from the Greensboro campus to paint and sketch. During the summer of her junior year, while rooming with classmates at Beaufort's old Inlet Inn, she was introduced to a young fighter pilot, recently home from the war. He was a local kid named Glenn Adair, and the two fell in love and were eventually married. Soon after their wedding, and with a new bachelor's degrees in hand, Geri began employment with the Department of Social Services, in Onslow County. Glenn returned to school, and when he had completed his degree at North Carolina State College, the couple moved to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where Glenn began working at Langley Field. While they were happy to have such good employment, they both missed Eastern North Carolina and their families. So after several years in Hampton Roads, Glenn and Geri packed up their belongings and returned to Beaufort. Glenn entered the family business with his father and brother, and Geri returned to her employment with the Department of Social Services. In 1955, after seven years of being a happy couple, Glenn and Geri learned that they would soon become a trio. Their only child, Geoffrey, was born in November of that year. When Geoffrey arrived, Geri suspended her professional work to become a full-time mom. Over the next six years, she devoted every moment to her family and being the best mom a kid could wish for. Still, Geri was part of a new generation of American women. Intelligent, forward-thinking and educated, these women longed to have careers and wanted to leave a positive mark in their world. Geri was no exception. So in September of 1961, after Geoffrey had begun primary school, Geri returned to her work in the Department of Social Services. She remained in that career for three more decades, helping perhaps thousands of Carteret County citizens live better lives. She retired as a Department Supervisor in 1988. In her later years, Geri became active in the Beaufort Garden Club and in the Beaufort Historical Association. She also became an avid genealogist, often traveling with Glenn to distant states in search of family records. She managed to compile a comprehensive catalog of her ancestors, including many photographs, dates of birth, cemetery locations and family stories. Additionally, she shared Glenn's love for local politics. She was always at his side as he served the people of Beaufort and Carteret County, offering him good advice and a constant flow of objective opinions. Geri would probably agree that she always lived her life with a foot in each of two very different worlds. Raised in a poor, rural family during the Great Depression, she defied the odds and obtained a college education in an era when few women did. And she used her education to forge a remarkable career devoted to helping others who were not so fortunate as herself. In that world, she was always professional, poised and perhaps a bit analytical. But she also maintained a strong bond with her roots. She never lost sight of how she was raised, easily identifying with the people she tried to help and never straying from the strong moral compass she learned at her parents' supper table. In that world she was just a good old country girl, able to cook a pot of collards, keep her house clean as the summer rain and scare the monsters from under the bed of an eight year old kid. She was, indeed, a unique lady. Classy, witty, hard-working and loving...I will miss her greatly. She is survived by her son, Geoffrey Glenn Adair, and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Kassell, of Pollocksville. In addition to her parents, her husband, Glenn Howard Adair, preceded her in death. The family will receive friends, Sunday, March 20, 2016 from 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m., at Brooks Funeral Home. Flowers are welcome or donations may be made to the Beaufort Historical Association, P.O. Box 363, Beaufort, NC 28516. &nbspBorn: December 8, 1926&nbspPlace of Birth: Great Falls, SC&nbspDeath: March 17, 2016&nbspPlace of Death: New Bern, NC&nbspOccupation: Social Worker Visitation Sunday March 20, 2016 , 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at Brooks Funeral Home Funeral Service Monday March 21, 2016 , 11:00 AM at Ann Street United Methodist Church Interment will follow service St. Paul's Cemetery Share your thoughts and memories in the guestbook. Beaufort Historical Association, 150 Turner Street, Beaufort, NC 28516 Services You can still show your support by sending flowers directly to the family, or by planting a memorial tree in the memory of Geraldine "Geri" Adair