Martha Ann Spencer Tucker, 82, of Riverneck Road, Columbia, died Saturday, April 15, 2023, at ECU Chowan Hospital in Edenton, surrounded by people who loved her.
She was born on March 9, 1941, on Rider's Creek in Tyrrell County. She was the daughter of the late Robert Lee Spencer and Addie Reynolds Spencer, and was preceded in death by her beloved husband Walter Wesley (Tom) Tucker, Jr. and her sister Marie S. Sawyer.
Ann served as Register of Deeds in Tyrrell County for many years. She loved her work, loved the people she worked with, and she loved her life. She was an avid sailer, and she and Tom spent much time out on the Scuppernong River and the Albemarle Sound. She loved traveling, loved Christmas, loved her grandchildren, loved to read, and in her late years, read novel after novel, and did hundreds of jigsaw puzzles.
Ann learned to play the piano when she was a young girl, and served as pianist and choir director at Malachi Chapel FWB Church for over forty years. In her later years, she moved her membership to Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, and she occasionally substituted as pianist there, if the need arose.
For a time, she accompanied a southern gospel quartet from Albemarle Church of Christ. She played piano, sang alto, and loved every good old gospel song they sang.
She loved music, especially the works of Mozart, and she played at home for her own pleasure, even when illness took her mobility and she no longer accompanied the choir at church.
She loved to fish, loved homemade chocolate cake, she loved fried chicken, Tami's homemade bread, and sweet tea with extra lemon. She collected frogs and anything her grandchildren made for her.
Most of all, she loved her family.
She is survived by two daughters, Vickie Woolard and husband Barry, Toni Brickhouse, and grandchildren, Kate Mayfour and husband Chad, Ellie Woolard, Alyssa Armstrong and husband Josh, Taylor Brickhouse, and great-grandchildren Jennifer, Axel, and Daisy Mae. In addition, she leaves behind her best friend Margaret Boucher, her special friend Nick Carpenter, and her favorite cat Shadow.
Visitation will be held in the fellowship hall of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Ann's service of death and resurrection will follow in the sanctuary at 2:00 p.m., then committal at Azalea Memorial Gardens, where she will be laid to rest beside Tom.
Services will be conducted by the Reverends Karen Pruette and Ben Van Staalduinen.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ann's memory can be made to ECU Health Chowan Hospital Palliative Care Suite, PO Box 629, Edenton, NC 27932.
Arrangements are by Maitland Funeral Home, Creswell.
