Sarah Margaret Poteat Queen

Sarah Margaret Poteat Queen, 88, of Morganton passed away peacefully Tuesday at her home, surrounded by the family she so loved. Sarah was born April I, 1929, on Cotton Mill Hill, in East Marion, to the late Jesse Poteat and Stella Sue Hill Poteat.

Sarah was a life-long member and faithful servant at Bethel United Methodist Church on Dysartsville Road, where she spent decades as the church treasurer, President of the United Methodist Women, Sunday School teacher, member of the choir, vacation Bible School leader, and host to the women's quilting bees. In fact, it was at Bethel where she met Frank Queen, the love of her life and for their first date, he held her hand and walked her the two miles from the church to her home on Bee Tree Avenue.

On February 19, 1949, she married Frank and spent the next 68 years devoting herself to him and her family. In addition to her sweet, beautiful smile, Sarah will be remembered for her love of gospel quartets, trips with her sisters and friends, playing Set Back with the family on Sunday afternoons at The Pond, and her uncontrollable laughter, which came to be known as a “Sarah Margaret moment”.

In addition to her parents, Sarah was preceded in death by her four sisters, Pauline Kiser, Dora Sue Crawley, Jessie Fay Patton, and Beatrice Poteat, and her three brothers, Calvin W. Poteat, Clarence J. Poteat, and Johnnie J. Poteat.

Surviving Sarah are her husband, H. Frank Queen, her son Bruce Queen and wife Brenda, her daughter Ann Giles Falls and husband Larry, her granddaughter Kelly Giles McFarland and husband Haze, her grandson Kevin Queen and wife Maria, and her great grandchildren, Morgan, Anna, and Giles Crawley and Connor and Abby Queen. Also surviving are her sisters Pearl Deaton, Joyce Hilmer, and Jennie Ree Bost.

The following tribute appeared in the May 2005 News Herald when Ann nominated Sarah in the Mother of the Year Contest, and epitomizes the love Sarah had for Frank, her family, and her church.

Mom is the solid foundation on which our family is built. Committed to her faith, devoted to my Dad, Mom created a home where church, family, and friends encircled my brother and me in a cocoon of warmth and protection. When we stepped outside her circle, we were always loved, forgiven, and accepted back in. In an ever changing world, our family is blessed with one constant: if you show up for lunch after church on Sunday, you will be welcomed home, where God's gift of family is never taken for granted, and where Mom's loving presence keeps the circle unbroken.

The family will receive friends from 1 to 3pm, Friday, August 4, 2017 at Bethel United Methodist Church on Dysartsville Road.  The funeral will be held at 3pm in the church with the Rev. Bruce Gwyn officiating.  Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Memorials may be made to Bethel United Methodist Church, 501 l Dysartsville Road, Morganton, NC, 28655.

Sossoman Funeral Home and Crematory Center is assisting the family with the arrangements.