Charlotte Austin Stansel

BARTOW, FL - Charlotte McBryde Austin Stansel, 92, of Bartow died at Good Shepherd Hospice in Auburndale Jan. 31, 2012. She was the daughter of the late Hector Bethune Austin and Charlotte Porcher Blood. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Prentiss Stansel, Jr., and her stepfather, Wallace W. Johnson. Born in New Brunswick, NJ on Sept. 3, 1919, she lived in Maxton, NC as a child and grew up in Bartow. She graduated from Summerlin Institute in Bartow and Flora Macdonald College in Red Springs, NC. She taught school in North Carolina and Virginia before returning to Bartow in 1989. Recently, she was a resident of Clare Bridge of Winter Haven. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Bartow and a former member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is survived by son John P. Stansel, III and his wife Sue of Bartow; daughter Charlotte S. “Susie” Stoughton and her husband John W. “Jack” Stoughton of Suffolk, VA; grandson Thomas F. Pearson, Jr. and his wife Belinda of Suffolk; granddaughter Katherine P. Wright of Suffolk; granddaughter Ann Stansel and her husband Daniel Auto of Bartow; six great-grandchildren; and several cousins, including Melissa Parsons, a former caregiver. A celebration of her life and witness to the resurrection will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, Bartow with the Rev. Jim Hatch officiating. Interment will follow at Wildwood Cemetery. The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Whidden-McLean Funeral Home, Bartow. Memorials may be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 105 Arneson Ave., Auburndale, FL 33823 or Habitat for Humanity at www.habitat.org.