Eleanor Kemp

Mary Eleanor Gooden Kemp, 91, of Elizabethtown went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, September 16, 2021.  She was born March 22, 1930, to Daisy Bennett Gooden and Dewitt Talmage Gooden. She grew up on the family farm on DeWitt Gooden Road with her three siblings, DeWitt Talmage Gooden, Jr., Francis Christine Gooden Suggs and Columbus Bennett Gooden.

Eleanor attended school in Elizabethtown and graduated from Elizabethtown High School in 1948. She attended Flora McDonald College but decided to return home. She started working for the Bank of Elizabethtown and that later became the Wachovia Bank. She retired in 1991 after 43 years of banking. She met her future husband, Fletcher Kemp, in 1956 and they were married in 1958. A long and happy marriage of 63 years.

Eleanor loved meeting people being involved with her family, church family and working in her flowers.

She is survived by Tomye Suggs Glenn, David Gooden (Pat) and Katherine Best (Jay). She also leaves behind lots of great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dewitt Gooden Sr. and Daisy Lee Bennett, brothers, Dewitt Gooden Jr. and Bennett Gooden, one sister, Christine Suggs, and one special nephew Richard “Dicky” Glenn.

Thank you to Patti Tatum, Georgia George and Rose Banks for their love, support, and care during her last years.

A graveside service will be held on Sunday, September 19, 2021, at 4:00 pm in the McMillan Cemetery in Elizabethtown with Rev. David Holloway officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the McMillan Cemetery, 2508 Deer Walk Lane, Elizabethtown, NC 28337.