About Therese Marie Starnes
Therese Marie Starnes was many things to many people during her time here on Earth as a mother, sister, volunteer, friend, mentor, and the list goes on. Therese was a woman who lived by the values of selflessness, faith, practicality, happiness, fairness, honesty, and humility. There's no skirting around the obvious that losing such a wonderful, young mother of two teenage daughters is terribly tragic. Therese should be remembered not for these sad times, but instead for the courageous, brave fight she gave breast cancer- not once, but twice. She should also be remembered as the extremely charitable woman she was, for her intelligence, loyalty to friends, and for her strong work ethic.
Therese was proud of the time she served in the US Air Force; she later became an accountant, then teacher at an inner city high school. She had amazing motherly intuition in knowing her children's individual needs, and made sure to have a good relationship with their father/her ex-husband. She was the mother who created homemade Halloween costumes and made her little girls feel like royalty on their birthday. Therese could be forgiving to a fault, and had an even tempered, but stubborn and determined personality. Even after she has left the physical world, her legacy lives on through the NC State University Scholarship.
At the young age of 43, Therese was reunited with her aunt and grandmother in heaven on August 25, 2007. Alyssa and Sarah are grateful for the 18 and 15 years they were able to spend with their amazing, beautiful mother. The girls keep traditions alive by celebrating and reminiscing about happy stories on Therese's birthday (September 24). Therese's family and friends continue to walk in memory at the Susan G Komen and Relay for Life events, looking forward to the day breast cancer no longer takes mothers from their daughters far too early in life.