Rebecca Eve (Pixley) Toner

Rebecca Eve Pixley Toner, 74, of Stokesdale, North Carolina, daughter of George W. Pixley (1919-2003) and of Madge Lucia Pixley (1922-2009), both of Monson, Massachusetts, and sister of Mrs. Kathryn Gaudette of Wimauma, Florida, gently passed away in Stokesdale on July 4, 2023.

Mrs. Toner was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on 30 July 1948, and graduated from Monson (Massachusetts) High School as a member of the Class of 1966. She graduated (B.A., summa cum laude) from Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, in 1983.  Mrs. Toner served for several years as a docent, or guide, to the extensive art collection in the Montgomery, Alabama, Museum of Fine Arts, and as a teacher of religion and literature at Montgomery Catholic High School.

Mrs. Toner also served as Director of Religious Education at the Catholic Chapel at Maxwell Air Force Base (2004-2008) and for several years as a lector and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.

She married her soulmate, James H. Toner, on 13 September 1969 at Saint Patrick’s Church in Monson, Massachusetts.  The union brought three sons and daughters-in-law:  Christopher and Ruth (MN), Patrick and Shannon (NC), and James and Ellen (MA); and twelve grandchildren: Benjamin, Eleanor, Evelyn, James, Lucy, Patrick, Peter, Rebecca, Samuel, Sonya, Thomas, and William.

Her love of family, church, and country; her joyous disposition and radiant smile; her affection for classical music (especially Mozart) and art (especially Caravaggio); and her devotion to reading (particularly to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and to J.R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings) made her a woman, wife, mother, grandmother, and teacher of noble character “worth more than rubies” (Prv 31:10).

For nearly twenty years, she generously and graciously shared her husband’s ministry as a Catholic deacon.

Visitation will be at Hanes-Lineberry Funeral Home Sedgefield Chapel on Sunday July 16, 2023 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  The funeral Mass will be at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church 201 South Chapman St. Greensboro, NC 27403 on Monday July 17, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.  Graveside services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday July 19, 2023 at Bethany Cemetery in Monson, Massachusetts.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made in Rebecca’s memory to The Grace Fund at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.