Emma Elizabeth Baxter Stover

Emma Elizabeth Baxter Stover, 81, of Florence, formerly of Blowing Rock, NC, passed away on Saturday, June 23, 2018. Mrs. Stover was born a daughter of the late Hollis Ogle Baxter and Claire Janette Royster Baxter.She was married to her high school sweetheart, Richard Douglas Stover, for 60 years.Mrs. Stover was a graduate of Gastonia High School and Meredith College.She was an elementary school teacher working at the North Carolina School For The Blind and then in Texas, New Jersey and retired from the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System.After retirement, she lived in Blowing Rock, NC and then moved to Methodist Manor in Florence.Mrs. Stover was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Florence and Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church in Blowing Rock, NC.She was also a member of Americans of Royal Descent, Magna Carta Dames, Plantagenet Society, Society of the Descendants of Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Colonial Order of the Crown and Daughters of the American Revolution.Mrs. Stover enjoyed friends, playing bridge and traveling. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Joan (Thomas) Grist of Charlotte, Dr. John Stover (Bayardo Aviles) of Hawaii, and Jane (John) Shurman of Florence; and grandchildren, Dr. William (Dr. Yasmine) Grist, John Grist, Anna Shurman and Richard Shurman. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at the Ingram Chapel of The Methodist Manor directed by Stoudenmire-Dowling Funeral Home. Family will receive friends following the service at the Ingram Chapel. Memorials may be made to the Lyme Disease Association, Inc. PO Box 1438, Jackson, NJ 08527 or online at LDA@LymeDiseaseAssociation.org Please sign the tribute wall for the family at www.stoudenmiredowling.com.