Susan Abbott Greenhill

Susan Abbott Greenhill, 83, passed away peacefully on 7 December 2022 leaving behind family and friends who dearly loved her.

Susan was born on 1 July 1939 in New York, New York, to John Barry Abbott and Louise Carter Abbott (later Bullock). She had fond memories of spending her early years playing in the New Yorker Hotel, where her father was manager and while her mother was a nurse for the New York Yankees. Several years later, Susan and her mother returned to her mother’s hometown of Mount Olive NC to be raised alongside her relatives in the local farming community. She was a proud graduate of the Mt. Olive High School Class of 1957 and was crowned the Mount Olive Pickle Queen that same year.
 
After high school, she attended Atlantic Christian College andsoon met her husband, a state highway patrolman, Charles Edward Greenhill, when he would inadvertently stop by her house while on patrol. Susan and Charles were married in January 1958 and spent 48 loving years traveling, entertaining, laughing, and talking together before his passing in October 2006.
 
Their first son, Charles Richard Greenhill, was born in December 1958, and in addition to working as a homemaker, Susan also completed a degree in education at East Carolina College. In the early years of their marriage, Charles left the highway patrol to become an insurance salesman for Blue Cross. Susan also worked as a middle-school teacher and championed several art classes and showcases as she strived to become a more accomplished artist. They welcomed their second son, David Edward Greenhill, in March 1967.
 
Shortly after David’s birth, the family moved to Baton Rouge LA where Charles was promoted to Vice President of Sales with Blue Cross. A subsequent promotion then led them to Chattanooga TN in 1982, where Susan worked as an art teacher in the public school system.

After her husband’s retirement in 1993, they returned to Duplin County and settled in Warsaw. Among their greatest passionswas restoring the Kennedy-Middleton House (1885) in the Warsaw Historic District, which she helped to add to the National Register of Historic Places. Their success with restoring their old home led Susan to manage the restoration of the Best House to become the Duplin County Veterans Museum. She was profoundly active in the Warsaw community, joining the Warsaw Presbyterian Church, where she participated in the choir, Sunday school, and Bible study. She was an avidsupporter of the Warsaw Veterans Parade and helped to coordinate and to promote the event every year.
 
In 2007, she was elected as a Warsaw Town Commissioner. As a commissioner, she supported health and wellness initiativesthrough the community center and led many education efforts, such as computer laptops in county schools. She was re-elected and served as a town commissioner until her term ended in 2012. Around this time, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and left her beloved Warsaw to move to an assisted living facility near her son David in Virginia in 2017 and then to a memory care facility in Florida in 2021, where she resided until her passing.
 
​Susan was a proud and devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She was an accomplished artist and loved her career as a school teacher. She enjoyed traveling, even going on a luxury European river cruise with a dear friend after her husband passed. She always supported her children and grandchildren with their goals and dreams and did whatever it took to keep her family together.

Susan is survived by her son, David Edward Greenhill of Middleburg VA; her grandchildren Kara Rance (Javar) and Zack Greenhill (Steffi), all of Snow Camp, NC; great-grandchildren Ayden Rance and Sofia Abbott Greenhill; as well as her daughter-in-law, Suzanne Greenhill, with whom she shared a special relationship. She leaves two half-siblings, Charles Neil Bullock and Marsha Marsh. She is preceded in death by her husband, Charles Edward Greenhill, and her son, Charles Richard Greenhill, as well as her parents.

The family invites donations to the Duplin County Veterans Museum instead of flowers. Funeral services will be Tuesday, December 13th, at 11:00 am at Warsaw Presbyterian Church, 203 East Hill Street, Warsaw, with the family receiving guests at 10:00 am. Reverend Ray Gooch will officiate. Graveside services will commence at 12:00 pm at Devotional Gardens, 1428 Highway 24/50 East, Warsaw, with a reception at Duplin Country Club at 1:00 pm.

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