Mildred Marie Hedgepeth Whitaker was called home to rest with our Lord and Savior on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. She was the ninth of twelve children born to the late Jetty and Sallie Hedgepeth on September 27, 1929. Mildred was a loving and devoted wife to her late husband Elisha Whitaker and became a widow at the age of thirty-two. Five sisters and three brothers also preceded her in death.

Mildred attended Halifax County Schools where she excelled in all subjects, especially Spelling and Math. As a widow at a very young age Mildred went on to raise her family of five children. While the children were growing up, Mildred was often seen with a crowded room of nieces and nephews listening to her recite one poem after another. No one could keep them laughing like their "Aunt Mildred" as she used the expressive voices of James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar. For 21 years, Mildred was an employee of Paul Bruce's Manufacturing Company, where she worked as a seamstress and later as a supervisor.

She was a member of Crowell Missionary Baptist Church where she served as a member of the Senior Choir, the Combined Choir, Mother of the Church, Deaconess, Church Secretary, Treasurer, and Choir President. Mildred spent countless hours as a Hospice Volunteer and was a Member of the United Voices for Christ Choir.

Left to cherish her memories are four sons and one daughter: Elisha Whitaker of Greenville, NC; Albert (Ethel) Whitaker of Scotland Neck, NC; Reginald (Barbara) Whitaker of Enfield, NC; Stanley (Selma) Whitaker of Greenville, NC; and Bernita (Ricky) Demery of the home; three sisters: Margaret Person of Halifax, NC; Christine (Langston) Smith of Hyattsville, Maryland; and Bernice (Lawrence) Anderson of Washington, DC; one brother-in-law, Daniel Whitaker of Halifax, NC; three sisters-in-law: Geneva Hedgepeth of Halifax, NC; Effie Brown and Mae Pittman of Richmond, Virginia; 13 grandchildren, three of the home, Requita and Bridget Demery, and Jennifer Perez; one Goddaughter, Mollie (Charlie) Hill of Rocky Mount, NC; one daughter-in-law: Mary Whitaker of Cary, NC; a host of nieces, nephews, and devoted family and friends.