Willie Belle Adams Barkley

Willie Belle Adams Barkley July 27, 1916 – June 28, 2015 Willie Belle Adams Barkley, 98, of Wilson passed away Sunday. A graveside service will be conducted 10 a.m. Wednesday in Evergreen Memorial Park, Wilson. The Rev. Justin Deeter will officiate. The family will receive friends 5 – 7 p.m. Tuesday at Joyner’s Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway, Wilson. She was born July 27, 1916 to Herbert and Bertha Adams in Sharpsburg. Willie Belle was a resident of Wilson since 1938 and a member of Five Points Missionary Baptist Church (now Forest Hills Baptist Church) since 1943. She and her husband were active in nearly every facet of the church’s life. She taught two year olds in Sunday school for thirty years, teaching long enough to be teaching children of her first students. Willie Belle was a member of the Senior Adult fellowship group and the Senior Adult Choir. She moved to WilMed Nursing Care Center in 2013. Willie Belle is survived by her sons; Rev. H. E. Barkley (Becky) of Columbia, South Carolina, and John Alvin Barkley (Carmen) of Valdosta, Georgia; her grandchildren, Michael Barkley of Columbia, South Carolina, Meredith Murphy (Andy) of Lexington, South Carolina, Cynthia Porges (Alex), and Christina Barnes (Charlie) both of Valdosta, Georgia; her two great-grandchildren, Luke Ford Murphy and Isabella Porges and her sisters, Jean Sawyer (Joe) of Rocky Mount and Catherine Davis of Sharpsburg. She was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-seven years, Herbert Barkley, who owned Wilson Transit Company and Barkley’s Garage prior to his retirement; her sisters, Bessie Estelle Adams, Lessie Grey Parker, and Edna Earl Bissette, and her brothers, Leslie Willard “Buddy” and Cecil Edwin Adams. Flowers are welcome or memorials may be directed to the Forest Hills Baptist Church, Building Fund, 1407 Forest Hills Road, Wilson, NC 27896. Condolences may be directed to www.joyners.net.