Stella Shade Summers

Stella June Shade Summers, 92, of Morganton, NC died peacefully at home on Thursday, June 12, 2014. Born in Altoona, PA on February 11, 1922, she was one of twelve children of the late Louis and Fannie Shade. Stella graduated from Scott High School in Coatesville, PA. While taking college courses and working in Washington, D.C., she met and married her late husband, Avrow "Al" Summers, who was from Cleveland County, NC. After a few years in D.C. and Maryland, Al and Stella moved to Morganton. In 1946 they founded Standard Heating and Air Conditioning Company (formerly Standard Sheet Metal Company). Stella worked as secretary treasurer until 2009.

Mrs. Summers also taught exercises at the Burke County Senior Center for over 20 years until 2010. At one time she was a co-owner of an exercise studio, Fit As A Fiddle.

Stella was a member of First Baptist Church in Morganton where she was a member of the Dorcas Sunday School Class. She kept her deep faith and devotion to God first and foremost in her life.

She was a member and past president of the Morganton Women’s Club, an avid golfer and member of Mimosa Hills Country Club, a Red Hatter, and a supporter of many charities, including her granddaughter’s Ella Foard Foundation.

A very energetic person, she was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend. She was an excellent cook, specializing in delicious Lebanese cuisine (her parents were from Lebanon). She will be missed by family and friends, but she has left us with a wonderful legacy and many memories.

Stella is lovingly survived by her son, Pat Summers of Morganton; two daughters, Donna Foard Knorr and her husband, Gerry, of Concord and Tina Stoer and her husband, Herb, of Leesburg, FL; eight grandchildren, Patrick Summers, Jr. and his wife, Tina, of Asheville, Darren Summers and his wife, Teresa, of Lenoir, John Foard, III and his wife, Nalisha, of Charlotte, Kathryn Foard Lawler of Fayetteville, Nicholas and Leslie Stoer of Leesburg, FL, and Eric and Andy Knorr of Cornelius; great-grandchildren, Emma, Ella, and Stella Foard of Charlotte, Hayden, Jackson, and Jantzen Stoer of Leesburg, Ian and Taylor Knorr of Cornelius, Erin Knorr of West Lafayette, IN, Amelia Crain of Asheville, and Jordan Culler and Jake Taylor of Lenoir; five siblings, Betty Filippone and her husband, Lou, of Coatesville, PA, May Munson of Bear, DE, Ann Adkins of Newark, DE, Dr. Ned Shade and his wife, Erika, of Colorado Springs, CO, and Michael Shade of Sierra Vista, AZ; and numerous nephews and nieces.

The funeral will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, June 16, 2014 at First Baptist Church with Dr. Thomas A. Bland, Jr. officiating. Entombment will follow in Burke Memorial Park Mausoleum. The family will receive friends in the church parlor from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the Ella Foard Foundation, 11934 James Richard Drive, Charlotte, NC 28277 or online at www.ellafoard.org

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