Bobbie Jean Tarkington | Eastern North Carolina Now

January 16, 1957 – April 29, 2021
    Bobbie Jean (Thrush) Tarkington, 64, passed away peacefully after a sudden and brief battle with metastatic colon cancer, in Chesterfield, VA, where she, both her daughters, and all her grandchildren reside.

    Graveside services will be held 1:00 PM Saturday, May 8, 2021 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest alongside her loving husband, Richard. Family gathering to commence nearly afterwards, detail TBD.

    BJ was born in Easley, SC, and spent her childhood traveling the country and abroad on missions and visiting extended family, alongside her mother, Mable Short Thrush (1938-2013) and father, Robert Wallace Thrush, Sr. (1934-2013), brother Robert Wallace Thrush, Jr. of Pinehurst, NC, and sister Katherine Matilda Blackmon (Katilda) of Laurinburg, NC. She still loved to travel through all her years and take family trips during the holidays.

    BJ completed her associates degree at Cape Fear Community College and studied Business at UNC-Pembroke later in life. She owned numerous successful businesses, most notably Shamrock Family Care Home of Laurinburg, NC, and Shamrock Transport Service, of Laurinburg and Wilmington, NC.

    BJ met her husband at a bowling tournament, the Late Richard Merlin Tarkington, Sr., WWII (1921-2000), and the two were inseparable from that point on. BJ and Dick were together for more than 20 years before his passing, and had two daughters, Olga Rebecca Paine (Matt) and Arrenda Katherine Moore (Brad).

    BJ was a fiercely dedicated mom to her children and grandchildren, and was particularly close to her only niece, Hannah Rebekah Thrush, and son-in-law's sister Samantha Nicole Kosh, raising them all to go on to accomplish great things. She always had an open door to numerous friends of her children, mentoring them into adulthood. She was known in the family as a phenomenal southern country cook, always making sure no one was ever without a good meal at the table. Family came first and was above all else to BJ, a value she instilled in all those around her. The hole left by her absence is impossible to fill.

    In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of BJ can be made to Bon Secours Community Hospice House. Memorial gifts can be made online at bsvaf.org/makeagift.

    Online condolences may be offered to the family by visiting www.paulfuneralhome.com

    Paul Funeral Home & Crematory in Washington is honored to serv the Tarkington family.