June 19, 2023, 79, Calypso/Faison –

Irene Gardner Hill, 79, of the Calypso/Faison area, passed away early Monday, June 19, 2023.

She had been employed as a supervisor in the shirt factories at Kinston, and then as a food server and waitress at Abbott’s Restaurant, also in Kinston. 

Mrs. Hill was preceded in death by her son, Douglas Wayne Smith; daughter-in-law, Amanda Rose Lee Smith; husband, John Parrott Hill; father, Jimmy S. Gardner; mother, Ruby Taylor Gardner; and brother, Jimmy Ray Gardner.

Loved ones left behind include a grandson, John Douglas Smith of Wilmington; a great-grandson, John Greyson Smith of Faison; two sisters, Martha Gardner Parker of Mount Olive, and Clara Gardner Alderman and husband, Charles, of Graham, NC, along with several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be conducted at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 25, from the chapel of Tyndall Funeral Home.  The Rev. Ashley Summerlin will officiate.  Burial will follow at Calypso Cemetery.  The family will greet friends at the cemetery.