May 31, 2026, 54, Mount Olive – Rhonda Michelle Truckenbrod Hainey, resident of the Clinton area, passed away Sunday, May 31, 2026, at Rex Hospital in Raleigh after a sudden health crisis. She was 54.
Rhonda had been a much-loved and well-liked art teacher. During her career, she was a faculty member of Midway High School, Roseboro Elementary School, Salemburg Elementary School, Clement School, and Plain View School, and lastly she returned to Roseboro where she was finishing up the current school year. Prior to her becoming a teacher, she had worked with the Mount Olive Tribune as a desk-top publishing technician. Rhonda was a graduate of Mount Olive College where she earned a bachelor degree.
Rhonda was as loving as she was lovely. She embodied a very giving spirit, was quite creative, a hardworking woman, a great cook, an animal lover, especially for cats. With her, family was everything. And yes, she was a kid at heart, even at 54! She loved her students and cared for each of them deeply.
Surviving family members include her husband, Dell Hainey, of the home; a son, Tyler Powell and his wife, Ashley, of Mount Olive; two grandchildren, Bryson Powell and Liam Powell, of Mount Olive; her father and step-mother, Ronald P. and Karen Truckenbrod, of Mount Olive; a step-daughter, Caitlyn Hainey, of Clinton; step-grandchildren, Makayla Casey, Zaylie Casey, and Lakelyn Casey; two sisters, April J. Reaves and husband, Brad, of Nebraska, and Holly T. Denning and husband, Chad, of Mount Olive; a step-sister, Emily Jenkins of Goldsboro; a step-brother, Jonathan Daniels and wife, Amy, of Goldsboro; and many nieces and nephews.
Her mother, Patsy Jackson Truckenbrod, preceded her in death.
Visitation with the Hainey and Truckenbrod families will be Saturday, June 6, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Jordan’s Chapel Baptist Church Fellowship Hall. Funeral services will follow at 2:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary. Officiating will be the Rev. Andy Shaffer and Mr. Chris Britt. Burial will follow in the cemetery in the churchyard.
Rhonda was all about helping others, and in that realm, it is requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be made to Cures for the Colors, c/o Southeastern Cancer Center, 203 Cox Blvd., Goldsboro, NC 27534, in hopes that these funds will help others who are fighting cancer and its effects, just as she had done in years passed.
Rhonda’s last gesture of kindness and generosity was that of being an organ donor, giving life a new meaning to several others.
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