Karen Ramona Thompson, the daughter of Helena Stephens and Lacy Thompson was born on August 21, 1971 at Southeastern General Hospital, Lumberton NC an invigorating and strong- willing young lady, Karen was loved by so many. Growing up in the community known as “Newtown”, Karen was the apple of everyone’s eye. She grew up during an era when children played in the streets and their neighbor’s backyards.
When the street light was your curfew and hopscotch, jump rope was the daily games of the community. She grew up in a neighborhood that was loving, caring and always supportive of their children regardless of who’s child it was. Her community consisted of educators, ministers, entrepreneurs, all living side by side.
She studied piano under the neighborhood’s music teacher, Mrs. Dehavea Drake- Cummings, Girl Scouts, and several community activities. Her Christian journey began as a young girl attending Sunday school at the House of Prayer Church, under the leadership of Pastor Lajoan Johnson. There she sang in the youth choir and participated in Sunday school until those challenging teen age years.
She was educated in the schools of Robeson County where she celebrates with the class of 1989. Navigating through life, Karen found herself as a ‘realist’, and having the personality of her grandmother, Jeanette Sinclair, “she was going to tell you how she felt if you like it or not”. However, she was not holding back the punches.
We will miss her, canny personality, famous family macaroni and cheese, her bootleg hair salon in her house, and all her road buddies and friends. Coming home to her Christian roots, Karen joined the Bibleway Tabernacle Church under the Pastorate of Rev. Michael Kearse where she actively involved herself in the life of the church community serving faithfully until her death.
Every Sunday, Karen would greet new members and work dutifully as the coordinator of the Culinary Ministry of the Bibleway Church. She leaves to mourn her loss, her mother Mrs. Helena Stephens (Donald); her father Lacy Thompson (Helen) all of Lumberton, NC, her sisters; Juaconda McMillian from Lumberton, NC, Adrian Nicholson, Raleigh, NC , her brothers; Glenn McMillian, Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Thompson of Tarheel, NC, and Travis Thompson her roommate and lastly, Kewuan Thompson from Hampton, Virginia. Her aunts, Doris Patterson of Whiteville, NC, and Mary Bovian Hackensack, NJ, greats aunts; Loretta Locklear, Wanda Harris (Russell), Barbara Logan, Gloristine Price, Lossie McCorey, Christine George, Geraldine Gibson, and Jennifer Littmon.
Her uncles, Billy (Dollie), Dennis George, Jeffery Stephens, and Alex Stephens. Always a mother to her nephews and nieces, she cherished Garron, Chianti, Darrion, Amiya, Addison, Na’Brajah and Aiden McMillian. Her community Godmother, Linda Cogdell and road dogs, Audrey Regan, Karen Best, and Alicia Legette.
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