Anita Phoenix

Anita Reinecke Phoenix, 91, passed away on Saturday, January 12, 2013,at River Landing at Sandy Ridge. A native of Bergen County, NJ, she was born on August 21, 1921 to Henry and Elsa Reinecke. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, January 16th at 2:00PM, at Central United Methodist Church in Asheboro, NC, where she has been a member since 1959. Anita graduated from Hackensack High School in New Jersey and Beaver College in Pennsylvania. She served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant during World War II, and was in the Naval Reserves until 1951. She taught in New Jersey, and then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained a Masters Degree in Personnel Administration and met her husband of 62 years, Lee C. Phoenix. Anita lived in Ellerbe, Asheboro and Shelby, NC where she raised her family before continuing her career as a guidance counselor at Kings Mountain Junior High. Anita and Lee returned to Asheboro in 1972, where she became guidance counselor at Eastern Randolph High School and retired in 1988. She and Lee were long and faithful members of Central United Methodist Church in Asheboro, where she sang in the choir, helped run the first kindergarten program, and helped teach the Christian Homemakers Sunday School Class for 36 years. Anita was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, where she served many years as an officer. Through the years, she volunteered with many organizations, including the Junior League and the Asheboro Public Library. She will be missed by many of her family and friends. Along with her parents, she is preceded in death by her sister, Gertrude Spann. She is survived by her husband, Lee C. Phoenix, of the home; her sister, Henrietta Anderson of Whiting, NJ; daughter, Margaret Phoenix Agee and her husband, David of Sylva, NC; son, Tom and his wife Becky, of Greensboro, NC; grandchildren, Evan and Leanne Agee, and Anne and Henry Phoenix; and much loved nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends from 1:00PM to 2:00PM at the Central United Methodist Church Chapel in Asheboro, NC, on Wednesday, January 16th. The family would like to thank the residents and staff of River Landing at Sandy Ridge in Colfax, NC for the support, care and friendship over the past 6 years. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Anita's memory to the Central United Methodist Church, the Lee C. Phoenix Scholarship Fund % Asheboro City Schools Education Foundation, or the Asheboro Public Library. Pugh Funeral Home, Asheboro in charge of arrangements