HISTORY
The Stokes Family
Chauncey C. (C. C.) Stokes, Sr., was a native of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was born in 1900, son of James Stokes and Candace Lyons (ca. 1881-1928). A graduate of the Lincoln School and St. Augustine’s College (Raleigh), C. C. Stokes, Sr. worked as a messenger for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and during World War II, on troop trains that crisscrossed the United States. Stokes, Sr. later graduated from Brown’s Embalming School in Raleigh, and soon after founded his own funeral home in 1923 with partner, Frank Daniels.
In 1926, C. C. Stokes, Sr. married Thelma Mendenhall (1903-1990), a native of Guilford County, North Carolina, and daughter of Aaron Mendenhall (1844-1906), and Susan Poyas (1867-1951). Thelma Mendenhall attended Bennett College in Greensboro, Fisk University and Lutheran College, and was a graduate of Atlanta University. She completed her post-graduate studies at North Carolina A&T, Hampton University, and Shaw University.
In 1933, the partnership with Frank Daniels dissolved, and from that point forward, the business operated as Stokes Mortuary. During this period, C. C. Stokes, Sr. organized the Stokes Mutual Burial Association, acknowledged as one of the oldest such associations in North Carolina. In 1936, he became the owner and manager of Unity Cemetery. Stokes was one of the founders of the North Carolina Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, and the first African American to serve on the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors in an advisory role. C. C. and Thelma Stokes were long-time members of St. Mark A.M.E. Church in Rocky Mount and maintained a commitment to service in the community through their fraternal and educational associations and activities. In 1987, Mrs. Stokes was the recipient of the J. B. Harren Community Service award, presented to those ‘who have contributed outstanding service to the community.’
In the years prior to his death in 1969, C. C. Stokes, Sr. passed the leadership of Stokes Mortuary on to his son, Chauncey C. Stokes, Jr. Born in 1930, C. C. Stokes, Jr., demonstrated a strong work ethic early in life, and literally grew up in the family business. He later earned a degree from the School of Mortuary Science in San Francisco prior to becoming the president of Stokes Mortuary. Known as “Bro Stokes,” Stokes, Jr., carefully followed in his parents’ footsteps as director of one of Rocky Mount’s most historic African American institutions. Known widely for his caring and friendly disposition, “Bro Stokes” was held in high regard for his support and assistance to families in financial distress. Upon C. C. Stokes, Jr.’s death in 2009, a long-time friend observed, “Mr. Stokes served African-Americans with dignity, no matter their background or economic status.”