December 10, 2023, 83, Calypso —

Ms. Martha Gardner Parker, life lifelong resident of the Faison/Calypso/Mount Olive areas, passed away Sunday, December 10, 2023, at Wayne UNC Healthcare.  She was 83.

Ms. Parker had been a food service worker for most of her life with employment at the Piggly Wiggly in Faison, and more recently at Butterball of Mount Olive.  She attended the Faison Bible Holiness Church.

She is survived by three children, David Hollingsworth (wife, Janet), Daphne Holloman, and Edward Ray Foss (wife, Nancy), all of Faison; her step-mother and best friend, Joyce Weeks Gardner of Calypso; two sisters, Clara G. Alderman (husband, Charles) of Graham, and Brenda Riley (husband, Tim) of La Grange; eight grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren, including Addyson Holloman, the apple of her eye.

Preceding her in death were a daughter, Kimberly Parker Ezzell; a sister, Irene G. Hill; a brother, Jimmy Ray Gardner; her father, Jimmy Sterling Gardner; her mother, Ruby Taylor Gardner; and long-time companion, Jerry Foss.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 13, at 2 p.m. at Tyndall Funeral Home.  Officiating will be the Rev. Ricky Jacobs.  Burial will follow the service in the Calypso Cemetery. 

The family will receive friends at the funeral home during the hour before the service, and at other times at the home of Joyce (Mrs. Jimmy) Gardner, Calypso, NC