Olive Glass Poole
May 29, 1936 – May 14, 2023
Raleigh, North Carolina – May 29, 1936-May14, 2023
Olive Poole, age 86, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Mother’s Day. She had been keeping a secret from everyone that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 7 months earlier. It was just like Olive to never mention she had a terminal illness and to continue living her life as if nothing was wrong until just days before her passing. Olive was born in the mountains near Afton, Virginia to Richard Leslie Glass and Helen Hike Snell Glass.
There was no one quite like Olive. She was known for being immaculately neat, very organized, always frugal and one hundred percent committed to anything she did. She was also very beautiful and never aged. In her younger days, she designed and professionally sewed almost everything she wore, which was always in the latest styles. After she retired, she took up gardening in a big way and transformed her yard into a stunning landscape of beautifully designed areas of flowers, bushes and flowering trees. In her 80s, she thought nothing of hauling over 100 heavy rocks from the backyard to the front yard to create a rock-lined drainage system, perfectly aligned, around her largest flower area. She loved a challenge. Olive was a life-long health and fitness advocate and a firm believer in a healthy diet long before those ideas became mainstream. When Millbrook Exchange Park started offering yoga in the early 1970s, she was one of the first in Raleigh to start practicing yoga. She was always a walker, walking miles every day up and down the steep hills in her neighborhood with other neighbors. She was an early riser, often getting up at 4:30am, walking her dog, walking with other early risers, or continuing work on one of her many projects.
Olive worked at several retail stores in Raleigh, but she worked the longest at United States Cold Storage in Lumberton, where she and her husband, Hunter, moved for several years for his work. She was a customer service representative and an export expert. She received recognition for her dedication, excellent customer service, and for taking on any challenge presented to her. She was a devoted wife and mother and a friend to everyone who knew her. She is predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Hunter Alton Poole, Sr., her son, Hunter Alton Poole, Jr., her son, David Alan Poole, her three brothers and three sisters, as well as her much beloved dog, Tippy, who died December 2022. She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Michelle Goodwin Poole and her two nieces, Linda Poole FitzSimons and Arlene Poole Pope.
There will be a private service for family and friends this summer. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Wake County Animal Center, 820 Beacon Lake Drive, Raleigh, NC 27610 or the SPCA of Wake County, 200 Petfinder Lane, Raleigh, NC 27603, in memory of the much-loved family dog, Tippy. Donations can also be made to The Pancreatic Cancer Network to fund research on a cure for pancreatic cancer at secure.pancan.org. or The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, https://unclineberger.org/pancreatic-cancer-center-of-excellence/.
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