Connie Jo Deaver

Connie Jo Howard Deaver, 70, of Deep Run, died July 14, 2025, at her home in Deep Run. She was born June 3, 1955, in Duplin County.

A funeral will be held on Friday, July 18, 2025, at 6 p.m. at Pink Hill Funeral Home, and visitation with the family will follow the service. A family burial, with military honors, will be held at the Eastern Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, Goldsboro, at a later date.

As a child, Connie wanted to be a nurse. She began her health services career as a corpsman in the United States Navy and was awarded the Commander Shirley M. Frawley Nursing Scholarship in 1978. Connie became a registered nurse when she earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Del Mar College in 1981. In 2002, Connie earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from East Carolina University. Her nursing career included hospitals in Corpus Christi, Texas, ECU Health Duplin Hospital, and UNC Lenoir Hospital where she served as house supervisor for 20 years. In June 2024, Connie was honored with a named scholarship in her honor by UNC Health Lenoir.

Connie contended with colorectal cancer when she was 32 years old, and though there were multiple health issues for the remainder of her life, she lived life with a positive outlook and faced all obstacles with a can-do attitude. Regardless of her health, when asked how she was doing, her response was always, “I’m fine.”

Connie’s enthusiasm for life and her love for family will endure. She enjoyed family trips to the mountains and the beach, hosting holiday celebrations, canning vegetables, and sitting on the back porch, “porching.”

She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Naomi Howard, and her sister, Helen Howard Bennett.

Survivors include her husband of 37 years, Tom Deaver, her daughter, Jennifer Estrada (Theresa Santos) of Deep Run, her stepdaughters Lisa Teel (Timmy) of Pink Hill and Jennifer Deaver of Deep Run, granddaughters Emily Humphrey (Scott) of Greenville and Baylee Mackey (Bailey) of Watauga, Illinois, and two great-grandchildren, Annie Mackey and Sawyer Mackey. Also, her sisters Ann Chaney (John) of Melbourne, Florida, and Tammy Howard (David Smith) of Durham, her brother-in-law, Steve Bennett of Fayetteville, and serval nieces and nephews who will always cherish memories of Aunt Connie.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 

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