Catherine Olivia Philyaw Tyndall, 83, passed away Sunday. Funeral services will be conducted 2 p.m. Tuesday at Joyner’s Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway. Interment will follow in Evergreen Memorial Park. The family will receive friends 1-2 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Olivia was a retired professor from Barton College (formerly Atlantic Christian College) in Wilson, where she taught elementary education and supervised student teachers. Prior to this position, she taught elementary school in Nash and Wilson counties. She received her bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Christian College, a master’s degree from East Carolina University, and furthered her studies at Duke University and North Carolina State University. She served on the North Carolina Elementary Committee and Regional Commission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, where she was a consultant for many N.C. schools seeking accreditation. She also served on the Barton College Alumni Board. Olivia was a member and elder of Westview Christian Church and was a member of several lineage organizations, among those The Colonial Dames of the Seventeenth Century, the Daughters of the American Revolution, First Families of North Carolina, both the Mayflower and Jamestowne Societies, and Past National President of the Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters. She was a Past Director of District VIII NCSDAR, Past Regent of the Thomas Hadley Chapter of DAR in Wilson, NC, a past member and President of the Altrusa Club, and a member of both the Wilson Woman’s Club and Garden Club.
Surviving are her husband, Dr. J.P. Tyndall; her daughter, Patricia Barnes Edwards of Wilson; two grandsons, Brian Tyndall Edwards of Raleigh and Benjamin Thomas Edwards of Wilson; and two sisters, Celesta Beamon and husband, Jesse of Stantonsburg, and Brenda Register of Grifton.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Robert Thomas Barnes, her parents, Hubert and Olivia Lee Philyaw, and a sister, Gerri Casey.
Flowers are welcome or memorials may be directed to the charity of one’s choice. Condolences may be directed to www.joyners.net.