Kinston – Anneliese Hunneke passed away peacefully on December 17th, 2020 at home with her family around her. She was 88 years old. A memorial service will be held outside next to the Memorial Garden at the First Presbyterian Church of Kinston on Wednesday December 23rd at 2:00 pm.

The garden is adjacent to the church parking lot and folks will be able to sit in their cars or bring their own chairs to sit on the grass. Please observe the Governor’s social distancing and mask requirements. The family will receive guests immediately thereafter.

Anneliese was preceded in death by her parents, Ilse and William Traumuller, her brother Martin Traumuller, her husband Fred, her son Steven, and grandson Joseph Felix Suarez. She is survived by her children Gunnar, Lisa (Luther), Bill (Sylvia), and Jose Suarez (Regina), sister-in-law Doris Traumuller, daughter-in-law Ginny Hunneke, grandsons Morgan Hunneke and Colby Lewis, granddaughter Regina-Elena Pepe (Michael), great grandchildren Matthew and Carolina Pepe, and nephews David Baker, Bruce and Eric Traumuller, and niece Diane Pflaum. Anneliese, a first generation American, was born April 13, 1932 in Passaic New Jersey to William and Ilse Traumuller who had recently immigrated from Germany. She graduated from Teaneck High School and Bucknell University.

Prior to meeting the love of her life, Fred, she taught elementary school. Following a short courtship, Anneliese and Fred married. While she left her teaching career after marrying, she continued to be a life-long educator. Anneliese and Fred taught us all what marriages could be, holding hands everywhere they went, regularly writing each other love letters, and saving them all. “Service to others is the rent we pay for the space we occupy” was a slogan Anneliese often shared and absolutely personified. She was an active volunteer in New Jersey with the Junior Woman’s Club and the Project Hope Hospital Ship among other organizations.

She didn’t miss a beat when she landed in Kinston in 1975 where she served as a board member of the Community Council for the Arts and remained an active volunteer for the ensuing 45 years. She had another volunteer career at Lenoir Memorial Hospital where she logged in excess of 6,000 hours, principally working reception in the Day Surgery unit every Thursday morning from six o’clock until noon.

She held board of directors’ positions on the local chapter of the North Carolina Symphony, the Kinston Country Club, Kinston Lenoir County Public Library (including as President from 1991-1996), and local chapter of the American Association of University Women. An avid advocate for literacy, Anneliese also volunteered as a reading lab specialist at South East School from 1985 to 1997, and at one time sported a license plate that said, “READ 2”.

She was an active member and previous officer of Kinston’s local chapter of PEO, an international philanthropic educational organization that promotes women’s education through loans, grants, and scholarships. In 1994, Anneliese received the Governor’s award for Outstanding Volunteer Service from then Governor James B. Hunt and again in 2018 from Governor Cooper. Anneliese and Fred loved Kinston, and during their fifty-six years of marriage regularly opened their home to friends in the community and friends across the country and globe. From hosting Rotary Club members from sister city Winnipeg to visiting artists from Shanghai, you could not realistically count the number of guests from other states, countries and continents that have slept and enjoyed a meal under the Hunneke roof. Anneliese and Fred always opened their home to travelers.

Indeed, they opened their home to an 18-year-old during a time when they had three young children of their own. Jose was supposed to come for six months, until he got his own place, and ended up becoming family and staying for six years, when he married and moved into an apartment with his new bride. The Hunnekes are among those special people who have never known a stranger and Anneliese & Fred were the consummate ambassadorial catalysts for neighborly kindness. Her threshold bears a plate with the phrase from Hebrews 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” and she unquestionably bore witness to that commitment.

Anneliese has been an active member of First Presbyterian Church of Kinston for 45 years and went to Haiti on mission trips with the church in 2003 and again in 2014. Anneliese has been a friend, confidant, and “Oma” to countless individuals over the years. A nurturer, doer, and giver who continued to give freely of her time, talent, and treasure to any and all who might ask.

She was a magnificent example of how we ought to conduct ourselves. Another favorite saying of Anneliese’ was “give flowers to the living”. Consider a memorial gift to either The Kinston Community Council for the Arts, The Neuse Regional Library, Lenoir Hospital Foundation, or First Presbyterian Church of Kinston.

Arrangements by Edwards Funeral Home & Cremations. Online condolences may be expressed at www.edwardsfhc.com.