GREENSBORO — Geraldine "Gerri" Staples Sapp was born on February 16, 1929, in Greensboro, to the late Ruben and Mabel Powell Staples. Her earthly journey ended early in the morning on Friday, January 11, 2013 at the Camden Place Health & Rehabilitation Center. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January 15, at Raleigh's Cross Road United Methodist Church, 715 Guilford College Road. Burial will follow at the church cemetery. The family will receive friends at 11 a.m. The service will be held at noon.
Geraldine graduated from James B. Dudley Senior High School in 1947, and from N.C. A&T State University with a degree in Business Education in 1961. Geraldine was an active member of Raleigh's Cross Road United Methodist Church. She also was an Eastern Star and a member of the Greensboro Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
While a student at A&T, Geraldine took a job as a counselor at a Girl Scout summer camp for African-American girls in North Carolina. As a young wife and mother at the time, Geraldine saw the Girl Scouts as a viable way of teaching young African-American women the value of leadership and service. She was so inspired by girl scouting that Geraldine worked for 11 years as a volunteer and an additional 33 years as a professional leader. Over the course of her career, Geraldine relocated from Greensboro to assume leadership roles in Roanoke, Va.; Baltimore County, Md., and Fredericksburg, Va. She retired from Girl Scouts in 1992 and returned to Greensboro.
Geraldine was pre-deceased by James Edward Sapp and their daughter Melinda. Left to cherish Geraldine's memory are an aunt, Mary Alice Staples Sapp; cousins Lafayette and Theresa Chavis Meachum, Norma Jean Chavis Maberson, Francis Staples Whitsett, Rev. Theodore Powell, and Chuck and Sandra Wallington. They are joined by numerous other members of the Staples, Jeffers, and Powell families who are celebrating Geraldine's life, legacy and love.
Brown's Funeral Home is assisting the family.
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