Isabelle Paige

Isabelle Cameron Morrison Paige, age 92 of W. Academy St passed away on Friday, May 6, 2016 at Carolina Care Center. She was born on September 19, 1923 in Gaston County to the late Robert Jones and Isabelle Bland Cameron Morrison. Isabelle graduated as the salutatorian in the class of 1940 from Cherryville High School and was their first drum majorette. She received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Greensboro Women's College. After graduation, Isabelle went to work for the National Carbon Company laboratory helping develop batteries that powered missiles which were used to turn the Battle of Bulge around. When the war ended, so did her job. She then went to work for the Naval Research Lab finding new uses for submarine batteries from World War I and further developing submarines. It was while she was there in Washington, D.C. that Isabelle met her husband, Ted Paige. After they married, Ted, a WWII Air Force Veteran, enrolled in school in Memphis to study optometry. It was there that the couple's first two children were born. They came to Cherryville in 1954 first moving in with Isabelle's father. He had moved from the family home place to another nearby home after his wife died. The Paige's third child was born here in Cherryville. Robert Sr. had the home place remodeled and the young family settled there. Isabelle then worked as a chemist for Lithium Corporation in Bessemer City and then went on to retire from the State of NC Employment Security Commission. She was a devout member of First Baptist Church where she served on various committees including the pastoral searches and planning board for the Christian Outreach Center. She was also a former Sunday School teacher. Isabelle loved reading and gardening and was a member of the Village Garden Club.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Theodore C. "Ted" Paige, Sr; daughter, Emily Cameron Rupard; and brothers, Robert J. Morrison and Charles R. Morrison.

Survivors include her son, Theodore C. "Ted" Paige, Jr. and wife, Pam of Gastonia; daughter, Betsy P. Rupard and husband, Jack of Cherryville; grandchildren, Kevin Andrew Dean and wife, Carolina of Knoxville, TN, Cameron Dean Lyon and husband, Gary of Rutherdord, NJ, and Katherine Paige Humphrey and husband, Greg of Greenville, SC; great grandchildren, Matteo and Luca Dean, Jesse Lyon, and one due in September, Jackson Humphrey.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 3:00 PM at First Baptist Church with Rev. Dr. Vince Hefner officiating. Burial will follow at City Memorial Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Sunday from 2:00 to 2:45 PM prior to the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 301 E. First St. Cherryville NC 28021 or to the donor's choice.