Verta M. Keith Haskins
12/06/1931 - 12/15/2022
Funeral service will be held at Holloway Memorial Funeral Home, 2502 NC Hwy 55, Durham, NC on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 1:00 pm. Burial will be held at Beechwood Cemetery.
All acts of kindness are appreciated during this difficult time. We ask you to consider donating to her favorite charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Or help a senior citizen who might need assistance paying rent or a light bill.
Our mother, Mrs. Verta Mae Keith Spicer Haskins, 91, passed away at home. Everything was so peaceful, and she kept waking up asking for her two babies. We were right there.
Ma was born on December 6, 1931 in Durham, NC to Ernest and Lattie Garrett Keith. She was the baby and last surviving sibling of 22 children.
She attended Durham public schools (Rocky Knoll, grades 1-7 and Mill Grove High School until graduation in 1950). Her best subjects were Algebra, English, and French, and she was in the Homecoming Queen's Court. Her dream of attending college was thwarted when her mother fell ill and had to be cared for. However, that didn't stop her from being a lifelong learner.
As a new divorcee, she raised us as a single parent in our beloved McDougald Terrace. She worked at the information desk at NC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill, and then as a nurses aide at their clinic. She had no prior training, but an LPN taught her how to take blood pressure, get the machine ready for an EKG, take temperatures, etc. She said all the doctors loved their section of the clinic because she kept everything neat and organized.
Ma wasn't just pretty, she was smart, and when we asked her why she didn't go to nursing school, she said she needed a 9-5 because her babies were at home. Plus, in her words, she didn't want to deal with bedpans, etc. She did, however, become a licensed cosmetologist, and could never explain why.
William "Plunk" Haskins from Durham's West End swept her off her feet, and they married in 1973 in Washington DC. She moved there in 1974 and loved it!
She worked as a job placement aide for the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC). After placing several people into "good government jobs," she took the Civil Service Exam and passed with top scores. She had also done some volunteer work, and that was a plus when she interviewed with the US Department of the Treasury. She was hired immediately (she said they wanted someone with a stable mind). She worked as a secretary and was fascinated with computer software. She became a WordPerfect expert and supervised other clerical staff. She retired from the Treasury in 1991. Always a learner, she started classes at Howard University Saturday College in Spanish, English, and Writing.
Ma and Plunk loved to travel, and she continued to do so after his death in 1990. Her last big trip was to Africa (Gambia and Senegal) in 1996 with Cathy Hughes and other DC seniors.
She moved back to Durham in 2009. Always one to exercise, she became a regular at WD Hill Recreation Center, the Durham Center for Senior Life, and Campus Hills (for swimming).
She leaves behind to cherish her memory and "live like we have some sense": two children (Peggy Spicer Duncan, Thurman "Bud" Spicer, Jr); two grandchildren (Steven Duncan and Shaunda Spicer); three great grandchildren (Brian Spicer, Christopher Parker, and Isaiah Boone); two nieces that were more like sisters (Mary Keith and Dolly Keith Forte); and a host of other nieces and nephews.
Funeral service will be held at Holloway Memorial Funeral Home, 2502 NC Hwy 55, Durham, NC on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 1:00 pm. Burial will be held at Beechwood Cemetery.
All acts of kindness are appreciated during this difficult time.