Obituary of Evelyn Delois Zollicoffer

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that earth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her own hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:30-31 Evelyn Delois Alston was born on March 5, 1936 to Katie Beatrice Alston and Joshua D. Alston in Halifax County, North Carolina. During the early hours on July 23, 2025 the Lord called her home to take her place in the Heavenly Choir. Evelyn matriculated at the McIver Elementary School in Halifax County, NC. Her favorite pastime was to leave school and go to her father's insurance job and ride with him on his bike whilst selling and collecting money for insurance from customers. Then when she would return home and get in trouble with her mother. Funny how her father never came to her defense or take her back to school. At sixteen, Evelyn married the love of her life and best friend, Thurman Wilbert Zollicoffer, Sr. on December 19, 1952 in Littleton, NC. The happy couple moved to Baltimore but returned to her in-laws' Littleton farm shortly after as Thurman was called to the army. Thurman was released as he had brothers that were actively serving in the army. Soon the couple returned to Baltimore with their first child, Helen Carolyn. Thurman and Evelyn were blessed with two more children: Thelma Annette and Thurman Wilbert, Jr. During a lay off period of approximately a year, Thurman moved to Boston with siblings to work and Evelyn remained in Baltimore caring for her family and maintaining the home. Evelyn loved the Lord and dedicated her life to Christ at the Enon Baptist Church early in her childhood. After marrying, Thurman and Evelyn moved to Baltimore and attended the New Mt Zion Baptist Church. Shortly thereafter, they joined the Simmons Memorial Baptist Church where Evelyn enthusiastically served on many committees and the Senior Choir #2. Evelyn's love for the Lord was manifested in the service she rendered as a Missionary. She loved visiting the homes and nursing homes of the sick and shut-ins. Evelyn eventually moved her membership to Friendship Baptist Church where she continued to serve as a Missionary, living her Christian faith feeding the hungry, clothing those in need and evangelizing in other deeds as much as words until her health prevailed. She would say missionary work is more than visiting and sitting with the sick or bereaved, it is also washing a dish or cleaning a room. Evelyn was known to take food from her table and feed neighbors under the guise that she had prepared too much food and it would only go to waste. She never let on that she was aware of how great the need. She was always about doing her Christian duty. Evelyn later went to Mergenthaler Night School and started sewing. She would make clothes for her family and became the go to person for alterations in the neighborhood and Simmons Memorial. She altered everything from shorts to gowns and clergy robes. She also made drapes and curtains for her home. And her culinary skills were unmatched. Her rolls would make family stash them for later so they wouldn't run out. At cook outs her rolls would be used as burger rolls. Evelyn's three-layer chocolate cake was a real crowd pleaser having folks fighting over the last slice. And the food never ran out even though she started with a meal just for her family of five. Evelyn would cater for friends and strangers alike. From luncheons to formal dinner parties which included canapes to petit fours. And she was not above using her offspring and their friends for wait staff. Evelyn loved her family. She was at every school event for three children down to her great granddaughters. Evelyn babysat and transported grandchildren and great grandchildren to daycare and school, making sure they were fed before and after. She made birthdays and holidays very special and there was always extended family around. She had a special relationship with her brother, Joseph as he was born on Christmas Day and as Evelyn would say, her only gift that Christmas and he was the gift she loved the most. She eventually gained guardianship of Joseph so he could attend Morgan State College in Baltimore. Evelyn was proceeded in death by her parents, Joshua and Katie Alston, brothers: Joshua D. and Samuel D. Alston, sister, Eliza Mae Watson, son-in-love, Larry d. Hutchings and her husband of sixty-five years, Thurman. Evelyn is survived by her three children: Carolyn Hutchings (Joppa, MD), Thelma Zollicoffer (Towson, MD) and Thurman Zollicoffer Jr. (Carol) (Parkville, MD), three grandchildren: Tamika Hutchings Matthews (Lamont), Lawrence Hutchings and Thurman Zollicoffer III, three great-grand daughters: Israel Matthews, Saniah Hutchings and Emery Matthews, brother: Joseph L Alston (Judy) of Wakefield, NC and sister, Geraldine Barrett Hawes (Raleigh, NC), brother-in-love, Nathaniel Zollicoffer (Baltimore, MD), sisters-in-love, Gloria Sharpe (Philadelphia, PA), Evelyn Zollicoffer Harvey (Baltimore, MD) and Treva Alston (Laurel, MD) and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Ecclesiastes 3:1-4