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Marian Callis Funderburk, 97, died early Sunday, June 21, 2020 at Forsyth Medical Palliative Care Unit in Winston-Salem.

She was born an identical twin with her sister Miriam Bumgarner to Burton Edward Callis and Alice Cartwright Callis in Bessemer City.  She met her future husband, the Rev. Donald Funderburk, in 1939 on a bus full of students travelling to enter Brevard Junior College.  After graduating from Brevard, she transferred to Woman’s College in Greensboro (now UNCG) and Donald was drafted into the US Army for three and a half years, half of them in Italy during World War II. They married Dec. 20, 1942 and she became an elementary school teacher during WWII and later for eight years to help their two children through college. After he was discharged in 1945, they began their lifetime of ministry on behalf of the Methodist Church in 1949. Their Methodist church appointments included Grace Chapel near Claremont, Shiloh near Catawba, Triplett near Mooresville, Mount Olivet and Centenary near Lexington, Center in Welcome, Bethlehem in Advance, and Oak Grove in Mocksville. After 42 years of touching countless lives across western NC, they retired in 1986, moved to Winston-Salem and joined Ardmore United Methodist Church where she felt accepted and loved. She resided at Arbor Acres Retirement Community in Winston-Salem the last four years. She was a cook of all things she and Donald grew in their garden and ran a tight ship at home. She was known for her organizational skills and ability to embrace technology including email and word processing.  She was continually staying on top of the news and her community and would send you any newspaper articles she thought might help or interest you.  If she saw something that needed to be done to help her community or church, she would facilitate that change.

She was preceded in death by: her husband of 73 years (She died on what would have been his 99th birthday); her parents; 2 sisters; a brother; and a son, Frank who died in 2001 in Houston, Texas after serving as a major in the Green Berets in Vietnam.

Survivors: her daughter, Rena Funderburk Meredith and son-in-law Doug Meredith of Midway; daughter-in-law, Rumi Funderburk Day of Houston; 6 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, Shelley and Mark McNeill, Julie and Paul Midkiff (Andrew, Grady), Brad and Sally Meredith (Reece, Connor, Audrey), Charles and April Funderburk (Karson, Kaleb, Kohen), Lee and Laura Funderburk (Kayli, Ellie, Finn), and Tina and Michael Le (Hayden, Ryan).

A private graveside services will be conducted by the Revs. Mitch Wilson and Eddie Evans at Center United Methodist Church in Welcome.

Condolences: www.hayworth-miller.com.

Memorial: to a local church.