May 23, 2021, 90, Mount Olive –

Mrs. Mary Estelle Wilkins Ward, 90, resident of the Mount Olive/Calypso area, passed from earth into the presence of Jesus Sunday morning, May 23, 2021.

She was a retired farm wife and homemaker, and had been employed in area sewing factories and also had been an elderly caregiver. Mrs. Ward was a member of Mount Olive Free Will Baptist Church where she had been the long-time church treasurer.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May 25, at 7 p.m. at Tyndall Funeral Home, officiated by the Rev. Terry Hardison, followed by visitation. Burial will be Wednesday, May 26, at 11 a.m. in the Calypso Cemetery. Friends and relatives are also being received at the Ward home.

Mrs. Ward is survived by her boys, Jerry Steve Ward with Diane Rich of Mount Olive, and Danny Ward of Mount Olive; grandchildren, Wendy Gail Best with husband, Randy, of Kenansville, Jackie Lynn Ward with fiance, Jonathan Bryant, of Dudley, David Craig Ward and Bryan Matthew Ward, both of Mount Olive; great-grandchildren, Cody Lee Boone with fiance, Chelsey White, Makenzie Brooke Best, Alexander Noah Garner, and Andrew Jacob Byrd; a sister, Viola W. Beamon of Mount Olive; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry Ward; a great-grandson, Dylan Michael Best; her parents, Frank and Vivie Hare Wilkins; a brother, O’Berry Wilkins; and three sisters, Katie Pearl W. Ward, Louvenia “Venie” W. Dail, and Nellie Brown W. Whaley.