 Geneva Elizabeth Woodlief Harris HENDERSON, NC--Geneva Elizabeth Woodlief Harris, 88, of Henderson, died on Monday, August 5, 2024 at Duke University Medical Center in Durham.
The funeral service will be held Sunday, August 11, 2024, at 3 p.m. at West End Baptist Church in Henderson. The family will receive friends prior to Sunday's service from 2 until 3 p.m. in the West End sanctuary. Interment will follow in the Union Chapel Church cemetery in Kittrell. Born in Kittrell on October 1, 1935, she was the daughter of Kenneth Alridge Woodlief and Bessie Blanche Moss Woodlief. A graduate of Zeb Vance School and Henderson Business College, she began her career at the Rose's home office on Henderson's Garnett Street and worked most of her career at First Citizens Bank at the Henderson Mall, Dabney Drive.
Music played "for the glory of God," as she would say, was a lifelong passion. She played piano for a wedding for the first time at age 14. She was pianist and then organist at her home church, Union Chapel Methodist Church in Kittrell. In the early 1970s, she became pianist and then organist at West End Baptist Church in Henderson, retiring in 2011. Her musical talents were developed singing and playing piano with her family - the Woodlief Family Quartet. She learned to play piano to accompany the family quartet, who sang at homecomings, revivals, and church services in the region, and for a time sang on a Saturday morning radio show on WHNC. She also played for a trio of her aunts on that station. Her first public singing was with her brother Edward, dueting on "Kneel at the Cross" at Oak Ridge Baptist Church in Kittrell when they were very small.
As the years went by, she'd often sing in the family quartet, or occasionally in other quartets, and is remembered for her alto voice. She enjoyed family - and serving her God and her church. Brought up Methodist and then baptized as she joined West End Baptist in 1970, she valued her Sunday School class and worship service. A wonderful cook (whether vegetable soup, made-from-scratch biscuits, or pecan pies), she relied on many recipes learned from earlier generations. Once her four children graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, she was the staunchest of Carolina fans. She even once delivered a piece of basketball strategy to the coach via his secretary, and her family observed that the strategy was indeed followed quite successfully in the next game.
Mrs. Harris is survived by her daughter Barbara Harris Currin of Vance County (her late husband was Dave H. Currin); her son Douglas Lawrence Harris and wife, Karen, of Warrenton, Va.; her son Michael David Harris and wife, Meg, of Greensboro, NC; eight grandchildren: Jefferson Harris, Jonathon Harris (fiancée, Haley), Benjamin Harris (wife, Cassidy), Christopher Harris, Rebecca Currin, Elizabeth Currin Whitby (husband, Aaron), Joseph Harris, and Samuel Harris; great granddaughter Daven Whitby and another soon to be born, Laney Whitby; her brother Edward Woodlief (wife, Velvet); and her brother Ronnie Woodlief (wife, Terryl) and many nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Lawrence Reece Harris, originally from Moulton. In addition to her late husband and her parents, she was preceded in death by son Dwight Reece Harris of Henderson, son-in-law Dave H. Currin (wife, Barbara Currin) of Vance County, brother Ernest Woodlief, and sister-in-law Gaynell Woodlief.
Serving as pallbearers will be grandsons Jefferson Harris, Jonathon Harris, Benjamin Harris, Christopher Harris, Joseph Harris, and Samuel Harris; and grandson-in-law Aaron Whitby.
Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to West End Baptist Church, 619 Dabney Drive, Henderson, N.C. 27536.
Online condolences may be made at www.jmwhitefuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are by J.M. White Funeral Home.
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