Pride of Kinston/Downtown Kinston Revitalization (DK) has established the Shirley Herring Memorial Park Fund to honor Shirley Herring and her dedication and service to Kinston and Lenoir County. The memorial park will be located at North and Mitchell Streets and will serve as an enduring legacy of her life’s work in Kinston and beyond. Plans for the park include a beautiful landscaping with a scenic mural of flowers as a backdrop as well as a pergola with a seating area for people to visit and relax in a lovely, tranquil setting to enjoy the beauty of the garden. 

Even though Shirley passed away in June 2018 from a long, valiant battle with cancer, her presence is still felt throughout the Kinston community. Whether driving down Herritage Street and seeing the lovely hanging flower baskets that she created, walking along the Neuse River waterfront, or visiting historic Harmony Hall that she helped restore, you can witness the incredible impact she had on Kinston.  If you knew Shirley Herring, you know she was not one to stand by idly but jumped in with all she had and gave 100% to whatever project she was involved. She was passionate about the things that mattered to her and a testament to the notion that one person can truly make a difference.  

Shirley was incredibly dedicated to the greater Kinston area and served in many leadership capacities; she served as president of the Lenoir County Historical Association, president of the Lenoir-Greene-Jones Medical Auxiliary, co-chair of the historic Maplewood Cemetery project, the Community Council for the Arts, the SPCA, and was a long-standing member of the Pride of Kinston Board. Shirley was acknowledged for her civic leadership and influence by being named a Paul Harris Fellow in 2005 by the Kinston Rotary Club and receiving the Outstanding Community Female Leadership Award in 2010 from the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce.  Shirley was also recognized as a state civic leader; she served on the NC Board of Elections, the NC Museum of History Board, the Tryon Palace Council of Friends, the Professional Educational Organization (PEO), and was state president of the NC Medical Auxiliary.

You would have never known that Shirley was not a Southern woman because she adopted Kinston as her own & cared deeply for this community. Someone once thanked her husband, Dr. Charlie Herring, for bringing Shirley to Kinston and one wonders what Kinston would have been like had she never lived here.

Work for the Shirley Herring Memorial Park will begin once funds are in place and more details about the dedication and opening of the memorial park once it is completed.  Downtown Kinston Revitalization is accepting donations of support for this special memorial park recognizing Shirley Herring and her legacy to Kinston. Checks can be made payable to Downtown Kinston Revitalization, 327 N. Queen St, Kinston NC 28501; please notate “memorial park” on your check.

Our Shirley Herring project is separate from but part of a larger project to improve this gateway intersection into downtown Kinston to better link Pearson Park to the downtown while adding more public art and safety features for accessing the park.  This includes a sensory path on the North Street sidewalk to slow children down who excitedly run to the playground, a large street mural painted in the intersection will include a fun crosswalk, along with traffic-calming mechanisms to enhance the safety of crossing Mitchell Street. With you help this project will be underway by the Spring of 2023.

If you do not reside in Kinston or have not visited downtown Kinston recently, please come see the improvements, transformations and new businesses. Downtown Kinston Revitalization is committed to bringing the magic back to downtown. We cannot do what we do without the support of people like you. Follow our Downtown Kinston Revitalization Face Book page to keep up with all that is transforming our downtown. 

Downtown Kinston Revitalization is a 501c3 non-profit.