After a lifetime of service to the community as an elementary school teacher of 30 years, the late Geraldine Whitfield Brewer’s legacy will continue to serve others.
Brewer, a retired Wayne County Public Schools teacher, has left her entire estate to charity, and over the next two weekends, Aug. 21-23 and 28-30, an estate sale will be held at 206 Smith Chapel Road, Mount Olive.
The sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Afterward the house and other property will be sold and all the proceeds will be distributed to the organizations Brewer named in her will.
Connie Wells, Brewer’s eldest niece, and the estate’s administrator, arranged for the estate sale.
Wells said that people whom Brewer had taught as fifth-graders, often approached her aunt with affection, thanks and hugs when they saw her in the grocery store, a restaurant and anywhere else they encountered her in public.
At her death, Brewer’s mementos included letters from parents thanking her for how she was able to help their children learn.
One parent wrote, “You’re the only teacher who has ever been able to teach him math.”
Born and reared in northern Duplin County just outside of Mount Olive, Brewer helped “barn” tobacco, care for the livestock and harvest “truck” (produce) crops on her Whitfield family’s small farm.
She rode the farm mules and horses. She loved flowers and the butterflies they brought. She learned to garden and cook a big noon-time meal — “dinner” — for all who worked on the farm in the summer, Wells said.
Brewer attended Mount Olive High School where she played basketball, was a majorette in the band and was active in clubs and many activities.
Her high school yearbook was full of comments about her happy personality. After graduation she attended East Carolina Teachers College and became the first of her family to earn a four-year college degree.
After Brewer’s retirement, those of her high school friends still in the Mount Olive area often gathered for a meal and told funny stories about each other.
Brewer’s husband, son and daughter preceded her in death. In her twilight years, she often thought about what should happen to what she was leaving behind, Wells said.
She decided that she would pass her entire estate on to local charities she saw doing worthy work and those that had been important in her family’s lives, Wells said.
“I think Aunt Gerry did a very good thing,” Wells said. “She worked hard for and valued what she was able to provide for her family on her teacher’s salary. She chose to pass it along where her work will continue to do good for this community.”