Shelia Jean Holton Grosser passed away from cancer on July 2 at home, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
If there is such a thing as a good life, mama lived it. If there is such a thing as a good death, mama had that, too.
Born in Roanoke Rapids in 1948, mama moved through the world in a way wholly her own. After years of adventure in Richmond and D.C., she returned to Roanoke Rapids to raise her three children with help from her own mama. Everybody at Halifax Community College and beyond knew her as “Ms. Shelia”, the librarian who always had time to give counsel or just listen. She was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, graduating with her Associate of Arts degree from HCC while being a band mom at RRHS.
At the house on the corner of 10th street, she held huge yard sales and made art out of back-alley junk that stopped traffic. Later when she moved to Greensboro to be close to her kids and grandkids, she transformed her yard and home with beautiful, eccentric sculptures; art made from treasures other people had cast aside. Digging in the ground and coaxing new life into the world gave her joy. She was an energetic pixie and a mischievous fae, a whimsical witch who spun beauty out of nothing at all.
Mama never met a stranger, and everyone she met was better for it. Despite her own incredible life losses, she never lost herself in anyone’s expectations. We are devastated by her passing, but we take comfort in knowing her life was full, earnest, and generous.
She was preceded in death by her sister Karen Faye, mother Allene Beatrice Overton Holton, father Roger Russell Holton, and granddaughter Hermione Beatrice Rose. She is survived by her brother Roger Allen Holton and his wife Carol, nephew Mark Holton and his wife Kate, daughter Autumn Karen and her partner Jared Oliver Redick, grandsons James Yeats Robinson, Christian Jude LaCour Robinson, and Virgil Thomas More Robinson, son Damien Ryder Storm and his wife Victoria Ann Storm, and son Dustin Roger Grosser.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations in her name to Bluestem Conservation Cemetery in Cedar Grove, where she’ll be laid to rest in the dirt amongst the wildflowers.