Myrum Haywood

Myrum Love Kinlaw Haywood, 97, of Bladenboro, passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 while recovering from a fractured hip at Wesley Pines Skilled Nursing Center in Lumberton.

Myrum was preceded in death by her husband, George W. Haywood, her toddler son, Elton, three brothers, I.W. Kinlaw, Worth Kinlaw, and Wilton Lane Kinlaw, a nephew, Steve Lane Kinlaw, and a great nephew, Joseph (Joey) Lane Thompson.

She is survived by sister-in-law Janie Kinlaw; nephew I.W. "Bill" Kinlaw (Gail), nephew Kenneth Kinlaw (Debbie), nephew Tim Kinlaw (Cathy), niece Susan Inman (Ronald), and nephew Sammy Kinlaw (Andra).  She is also survived by her many great nieces and nephews; Chrystal K. Johnson (Clint), Michael W. Kinlaw (Emily); Whitney Falatovich (Justin), and Kenneth Kinlaw, Jr., David Kinlaw, Robert Kinlaw (Alexis), Jamie Thompson (Brandie), Jake Thompson (Laura), Ashton Kinlaw, Olivia Kinlaw, and Chapman Kinlaw.

Born in 1924, Myrum was a child of the Great Depression and learned from an early age the value of hard work, a day’s wage, and frugality. She met and married the man of her dreams at the tender age of 14, investing her life in a marriage that lasted 71 years. In 1941, two days before Christmas, Myrum and George lost their 2-year-old son, Elton, to a sudden and mysterious fever.

She graduated from Mrs. Motte’s Secretarial School in Wilmington in 1945. With credentials in hand, she began her work career as the bookkeeper for Johnson Cotton Company. In 1952, she became a civil servant and worked for the post office in Bladenboro for thirty-two years. In their retirement years, Myrum and George opened and operated Haywood’s Grill on Main Street in Bladenboro, the local’s favorite burger and breakfast diner for many years.

Myrum loved singing, gardening, cooking, and visiting. She thrived on the laughter and local news provided by the morning coffee drinkers who frequented their downtown grill, where she served the best biscuits you have ever tasted.

She treasured her neighbors and her community. Because of her civic mindedness, she solicited enough neighborhood signatures to petition the state to pave Poplar Street. She was a founding member of the Bladenboro Town and Country Garden Club and served on numerous other church and community clubs and committees. She was a persuasive and persistent fund-raiser for a variety of Bladenboro projects. In her lifetime, she sold an arsenal of Rada knives and a mountain of Tupperware, all for good causes.

She lived and loved out loud. She leaned in to talk to you, laughed with abandon, smiled with childlike anticipation, and always had a dessert on-hand. She opened her heart and the door every time someone knocked.

She was the best friend you could ever have, generous and giving, filled with delightful stories, and always up for a trip to the dollar store. She was a master environmentalist and conservationist, who saved everything that ever came into her grasp, including Styrofoam meat trays, empty potato chip bags, and waxed-paper liners from cereals boxes.

She sparkled. She cheered. She loved with all her might. She was everyone’s favorite person.

Now, at her passing, the best way we can honor her is to be a little more like her.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 10:00 am at the Bladenboro First Baptist Church. Burial will follow the services in the Sandy Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Bladenboro.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bladenboro First Baptist Church or to a charity of your choice.