Myra Jo (Smith) Price

Myra Jo Smith Price, 71, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, February 11, 2023. Myra Jo was raised in Trenton, the youngest child of Thomas Kenon Smith and Gladys Mae Kinsey Smith. She attended Trenton Elementary School and graduated from Jones Central High School. She spent most of her adult life in Kinston, and retired from Lenoir County Public Schools in 2020 after many years of service as a Teacher’s Assistant and Financial Secretary.

Myra Jo made a life out of looking after and helping others. She was known for her country cooking, but also enjoyed a “lunch date” as much as anyone. Myra Jo never met a stranger, loved to talk and would talk to anyone. Friends, family, and neighbors have all reminisced about long talks with her through the years. She loved to give nicknames to those many friends. More than anything, Myra Jo loved spending time with her children and grandchildren. She has spent the last forty years going to ballgames, dance recitals, musicals, school programs, and anything else her “babies” were involved in and she loved every minute. They were her greatest joy, and she instilled a work ethic in them that still serves them to this day.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas Kenon and Gladys Mae Kinsey Smith, and brothers, Guy Thomas Smith, Edmund Fletcher Smith, and Harold Kinsey Smith. She is survived by her devoted family, husband of 50 years, James “Jimmy” Edward Price, of Kinston; son, James Thomas “Tommy” Price and wife, Amanda, and their children, Zachary, Evan, and Ethan, of Greenville; son, William Edward “Eddie” Price and wife, Ivey, and their children, William, Emerson, and Finn, of Grifton; and daughter, Kari Jo Price Bienko and husband, Peter, and their children, Sarah and Bailey, of Greenville.

Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at Howard-Carter Funeral Home in Kinston. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at Phillips Family Cemetery in Trenton.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 6704, Hagerstown, MD 21741.