October 11, 2026, 93, – Mrs. Ila Marie Kornegay Harper, at the age of 93, passed away quietly and peacefully early Sunday morning, October 11, 2026, at her home in the Pleasant Grove community near Mount Olive. Her homegoing coincided with what was the 124th homecoming at her home church, Alum Springs Baptist, where she had attended her entire life, and where her membership reveals her to have been the church’s oldest living member.
Mrs. Harper, a graduate of B. F. Grady High School with the class of 1951, attended and graduated from Mars Hill Junior College and Women’s College at Greensboro (now University of North Carolina at Greensboro). She married Larry W. Harper and traded in being a farm girl to that of being a farmer’s wife and mother. Later, she returned to her alma mater, B. F. Grady School as a teacher, beginning in the third grade for one year, followed by seventh and eighth grades. Her last teaching experiences were that of teaching home economics, later renamed vocational education, dividing her time between B. F. Grady, Beulaville, Chinquapin, and North Duplin Schools, though the most of her teaching career of 30 years, were spent at Grady.
She was a member of the Retired Teachers Association of Duplin County, the National Teachers Association, and the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mount Olive Chapter.
At Alum Springs, she had been the church’s long-time church clerk and had been a Sunday School teacher for more than 40 years, a Bible school director, and was the Women’s Missionary Union leader, even at the time when the group, because of slack attendance, had wittingly adopted the slogan, “us four and no more!” Her last act of church service was that of being the adult Sunday school teacher. Of course, being the devout member that she was, if any assistance was needed in any task, she was readily available to help, with the exception of singing in the choir—she left that up to Mr. Larry!
Mrs. Harper leaves behind her three children, Larie Harper of Albertson, Wyatt Talmadge Harper of Kenansville, and Mark Daniel Harper and wife, Geraldine, of Albertson; two granddaughters, Jessica Nicole Makison and husband, Jimmy, and their three children, Chloe Elizabeth, Nelson Wyatt, and William Daniel Makison, all of Cary, and Jamie Lynne Wood and husband, Shawn Kelly, of Kenansville; and a sister and brother-in-law, Denise Ann Kornegay Ward and Tom Ward of Apex. Also surviving are nieces and nephews, Deborah Jean Trotter Holbrook and husband, Tom, Alicia Trotter Simpson and husband, Mark, Robert Abernethy and wife, Yvonne, Richard Abernethy and wife, Cherie Hubble, Catherine Marie Ward and husband, John Carpenter, and Elizabeth Jeanette Herron and husband, Terry, and their families; and the nieces and nephews from the larger Harper family. Special recognition is given to dear friends and neighbors, Pam Sullivan and family, Mary Ann Kornegay Beck, Patrick Howard, Norbert Ezzell, Jimmy and Debbie Jones, and the Alum Springs Church family for their faithful assistance, visits, and remembrances during Mrs. Harper’s period of being home bound.
In death, she now joins the company of her late husband, Larry W. Harper; daughter-in-law, Gail Bradshaw Harper; parents, Herbert Talmadge Kornegay and Ethel Moore Kornegay; older sisters, Ethel Belle K. Trotter and husband James V. Trotter; Virginia K. Abernethy and husband, George Abernethy; a niece, Mary Theresa Trotter; as well as the in-laws from the Harper family.
Visitation with the Harper and Kornegay families will be Saturday, October 17, beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Ruth S. Herring Fellowship Hall at Alum Springs Baptist Church. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m. in the church sanctuary, and will be officiated by the Rev. Tim Jenkins and the Rev. Ashley Summerlin.. Burial will follow at Oak Ridge Memorial Park at Pink Hill. Friends and family are also welcome to visit in the Harper home.
In lieu of flowers, it is requested that memorial gifts be made to Alum Springs Church, c/o Wayland Southerland, 645 Bennett’s Bridge Road, Mount Olive, NC 28365, or to St. Jude Hospital for Children, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105.
Mrs. Harper was among the “salt of the earth” kind of people; one who could be counted on to do what she said, and one who went about doing good deeds, quietly and unassuming. She was a walking history book, having vast knowledge about the families in the community, their ancestors, and many interesting facts and anecdotes. A big part of history has been lost with the closing of her mental acuity. Though she was one to refrain from the spotlight, we know she has heard, “Well done.” Appropriately, her homegoing came on homecoming day!
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