Shirley Marcom Byrd

Shirley Ann Marcom Byrd, born on September 5, 1935, went to be with our Lord Jesus Christ on July 8, 2026. She was the daughter of Susie Angeline Cooper Marcom and Willie Sidney Marcom of Angier.

Shirley was a 1953 graduate of Cleveland High School and 1954 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Business School. She retired with the State of North Carolina in 1996 after working with the Revenue Department, Energy Division and North Carolina Social Services, Child Support Division.

She loved being a Republican and worked constantly to register people who had never registered, especially those people moving into the McGee’s Crossroads area. She was named in the North Carolina “Tribute to Women” in May 1992 and received the Martha Stevens Service Award by the Johnston County Republican Women in 1992. She also received the Ronald Wilson Reagan Legacy Award in 2010 given by the Johnston County Republican Party.

Shirley also enjoyed her Pleasant Grove Home Extension Club, which was dissolved and became the McGee’s Crossroads Community Club, which helps support the trustees of the Coats Homestead, Bell Tower and Museum. She delivered Meals on Wheels in the Pleasant Grove Community.

Meeting people was one of her greatest pleasures. She had many friends with whom she enjoyed going to the beach and playing bridge. She loved shopping with her Marcom Sisters. She had a desire to be a peacemaker in her church and community. Most of all, she loved her Lord and her church family. She enjoyed the WMU and was active county wide with her mission activities. She took a mission trip to Brazil and another to the Holy Land. Walking on the grounds where Jesus was born, buried and resurrected was a great joy to her and enriched her life very much.

Shirley moved to Myrtle Grove in Angier, NC in 2011 and made many new friends there.

She is survived by many loving family members: ex-husband Medwick V. Byrd, Sr. and partner, to whom she was married for 38 years; her three children, Vickie Byrd Lanier, Dr. Medwick V. Byrd, Jr. and partner Bill, and Dr. Gregory Mitchell Byrd and wife Jenn; three grandchildren, Tyler Gray Olive, William Vaughan Olive, and Abigail Suzanne Lanier; step-grandson Daniel Pickle; great grandson Eli Olive and mother Jasmine; sister Sue Marcom Jones and husband Billy. She was preceded in death by siblings Doris, Wilma, Billy, Marie, Louise, and Mary Lee She was well beloved by dozens of nieces and nephews on both sides of her family.

The family will receive friends at Bryan Lee Funeral Home in Angier, NC on Tuesday, July 14, from 5-8 pm. Funeral services will be held at 11 am on Wednesday, July 15, at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church (Old Fairgrounds Road, Willow Springs NC).

As per Shirley’s request, In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church Building Fund.

Shirley truly had a servant’s heart and gave her family a wonderful example to follow.

“Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

A service of Bryan-Lee Funeral Home - Angier.