Louise Royal, age 81, of Whiteville, NC, passed away peacefully Friday, September 2, 2022, at Lower Cape Fear Life of Whiteville.
Louise McKay Fuller Royal knew what it meant to love and to serve others.
The 81-year-old life-long educator died early Friday, September 2, 2022, surrounded by family at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare Center in Whiteville.
Louise, also known as “LouLou” to her grandchildren and their friends, was born October 24, 1940 in Whiteville to Helen Bryan Fuller and Samuel Lassiter Fuller. She grew up around her father’s mule, wagon and tractor business. She was an avid outdoorsman and a top athlete at Whiteville High School, excelling on the basketball court. She was named most athletic female by her senior class. She was active in school activities and, at age 12, joined the WHS Marching Band as a sixth-grade percussionist. The snare drum was her specialty.
She discovered her future husband when her basketball team played Nakina High School’s women’s basketball team, which was coached by Herbert Kenwood Royal, of Supply. Scoring basket after basket, she caught his eye. Upon graduation in 1959, she attended Queen’s College in Charlotte. Kenwood taught and coached at nearby Mount Holly High School. They became engaged and were married December 22, 1959, residing in Mount Holly, in Gaston County. Their first son, John Fuller Royal, was born in May of 1961. Their second son, Samuel Kenwood Royal, was born in June of 1963.
Prior to Sam’s birth, they returned to Whiteville where Kenwood was hired as Edgewood Elementary School’s principal. In 1965, Louise and Kenwood moved into the Fuller family homeplace on Madison Street where she opened the Madison Street Kindergarten. Over the next 11 years, she would teach nearly 500 students in her home. When she realized that the public schools were to soon add kindergarten, she resumed her education at Southeastern Community College, East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching, a master’s degree in education and her principal’s certificate. She closed her kindergarten and began her public-school career as an interim teacher at Edgewood Elementary School. The following year, she began nine years as a Title I Reading teacher at Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary School. While there, she was named the school’s teacher of the year as well as the Columbus County Teacher of the Year. She would move on to become the Regional Teacher of the Year and a finalist for the North Carolina Teacher of the Year. She won the Terry Sanford Award in the process. The following year, she would begin a 16-year-stint working at Whiteville Primary School, first as a second-grade teacher and then as the school’s assistant principal. She retired in 2002.
She worked as a Sunday School teacher at First Presbyterian Church of Whiteville and First Baptist Church Whiteville. She was a Cub Scout Den Mother with Pack 512 at the Whiteville Presbyterian Church. She was also a member of Delta Cappa Gamma and the Whiteville Women’s Civic League.
Doing the work themselves, Louise and Kenwood spent years remodeling their Madison Street home.
Louise was a writer and an artist. She created most of the teaching materials she used, customized to the needs of her students. She painted colorful characters and children playing on the walls throughout her schools. She was often encouraged to write and illustrate books, but never found the time. The best-known example of her artwork can be found on top of their home each Christmas. Her Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer have entertained thousands of county residents for more than 50 years
Louise loved spending time at their Boone’s Neck house on the Intracoastal Waterway. Like her mother and her sisters, she was an excellent cook. An avid reader, she loved to curl up with a good book while her cat or dog, or both, cuddled close by. She loved her animals.
She was always supportive of husband Kenwood and of her sons, no matter the endeavors they sought to accomplish. In 1993, she entered an exciting new chapter of her life when daughter-in-law Janet gave birth to triplet girls: Allison, Sarah and Lillie. They would call her “LouLou,” as would so many others. Kenwood became “PaKen.” Six years later, Natalie would join her sisters. After raising two sons Louise finally had four granddaughters to help raise, dress, teach and play with. She painted her delightful children’s characters on the walls of the girls’ shared nursery. The girls referred to their years of after school visits to Louise’s home as “visiting the LouLou Spa.”
She delighted in their basketball, tennis, and soccer games as well as their dance, swimming, Girl Scout and church activities. She was proud of their accomplishments in high school and college.
She was also proud of the “grandsons-in-law” when Sarah married Josh Southerland and Lillie married Chris Chapman.
Louise’s course into education was almost inevitable. Her grandfather L.K. Fuller set a high priority on education, making sure that all seven of his children had the opportunity to attend two- or four-year schools. Her father would be a Bladen County school principal before returning to Whiteville to sell mules and tractors. Her sisters would teach school. Her husband taught school. She was delighted when granddaughter Lillie decided to become a teacher. Louise was an advocate for students, teachers, staff members and bus drivers. She was dedicated to her job. She took new teachers under her wing and was always available as a mentor.
She lived for family occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. She was quick to invite people to her home for the holidays, not wanting anyone to face a holiday alone.
In addition to husband Kenwood, she is survived by her sisters Virginia Fuller Lewis and Helen Fuller Holden (Jerry); first cousin Jean Fuller Parker; sons Fuller (Janet) and Sam; granddaughters Allison Ward Royal, Sarah Royal Southerland (Joshua), Lillie Royal Chapman (Chris) and Natalie Grant Royal.
Funeral service will be at Whiteville First Baptist Church at 2 pm on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, with Rev. Kendell Cameron officiating. Burial will follow at Whiteville Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be at McKenzie Mortuary on Monday, September 5, 2022, from 7 until 9 pm.
A McKenzie Mortuary service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Louise Royal Scholarship (Whiteville High School Class of 1959). Make check out to Whiteville City Schools and mail to Butch Blanchard, 603 N. Thompson Street, Whiteville, N.C. 28472. Memo should read Louise Royal Scholarship.
