Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley

Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley
June 7, 1939 - February 2, 2024

Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley passed away on February 2, 2024, as a result of a hemorrhagic stroke. After a week surrounded by her 4 children, she left us peacefully as the sun was setting and the sky was painted in brilliant shades of pink and oranges. Just the fanfare she would have loved for her heavenly sendoff.

Edith, or "Edie" to her friends and family, was born on June 7, 1939 to Thelma and Lloyd Wilkinson in Willow Springs, Missouri and was the youngest of 5 children. She graduated from Lebanon High School in 1957, and was homecoming queen her senior year. She attended Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri and Southwest Missouri State College in Springfield, Missouri, before heading west with her older brother, Don, to attend Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. It was there she met the love of her life, James "Jim" William Buckley, whom she would marry in 1962 after graduating from Adams State.

Edie and Jim were inseparable during their nearly 60 years together and were loving and devoted parents to their four children and eventually their 8 grandchildren.

Jim's management career with the Montgomery Ward catalog division began in Chicago, Illinois, and would ultimately move the family to New Jersey; Albany, New York; and Baltimore, Maryland. Edie and Jim also lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Minneapolis, Minnesota before retiring to Wilmington, North Carolina. While raising her family, Edie worked as a business education and physical education teacher, although she eventually found her niche as a personal banker and worked for various banks and credit unions during their years in Baltimore, Winston-Salem, Minneapolis and Wilmington. Edie and Jim made friends wherever they were living, but it became clear that as long as they were together it did not matter where they were. In 2021, they moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to be closer to daughter Kerry and her family.

After Jim passed away on New Year's Day 2022, Edie was welcomed into a new group of female friends who were a tremendous support to her. She enjoyed their various activities, including dominoes, but mostly their fellowship. She was also an avid gardener. At the time of her passing, she was a parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Edie is survived by her four children, their spouses and eight grandchildren: Gregory (Hope) Buckley of Florence, Alabama; Laura (Henry) Hood of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Cynthia (Greg) Sword of Lawrenceville, Georgia; and Kerry (James) Regan of Wake Forest, North Carolina; and grandchildren Remi and James Buckley, Sydney and Emory Hood, Patrick and Alex Sword and Kaitlyn and Jackie Regan. She is also survived by her beloved and devoted "Schipoo" companion, Maggie, as well as many nieces, nephews and in-laws, including Jim's brothers and sister whom she considered her own family, as well as the surviving spouses of her own siblings, some of whom she still talked with almost weekly.

She is predeceased by her beloved husband, James William Buckley; parents Thelma and Lloyd Wilkinson, and all four of her siblings, Evelyn Renner, Dale Wilkinson, Don Wilkinson and Ron Wilkinson.

The date of a memorial mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church will be determined.