Mrs. Madeline Craft McNames

Mrs. Madeline Craft McNames, 89 of Winston-Salem, NC passed away Tuesday, October 18, 2011. Mrs. McNames was born November 19, 1921 in Tanner, Alabama to the late A.L. and Gussie Smith Craft. Madeline grew up on a farm near Harrisburg Arkansas. After high school, she moved to Memphis Tennessee where she attended business college and worked as an administrative assistant for the owner of a cosmetics company. While living in Memphis she met her future husband Lyle ""Mac"" McNames, who was a first lieutenant in the Army Air Transport Command. Madeline and Mac were married in 1943. Following World War II, Madeline and Mac moved to Winston Salem where Mac had taken a pilot's job at Piedmont Airlines. Madeline became a licensed realtor in 1957 and went to work for Williams-Malcolm Company and then Luke Bondurant Realty. In 1966 Madeline formed Madeline McNames Realtors. In 1971, she joined forces with her good friend, Rose Sparks, to create McNames-Sparks Realtors. Following the sale of the McNames Sparks to another local real estate firm, she took partial retirement from the real estate business, but did not slow down as she had many hobbies such as trading stocks, traveling and building two new homes. In addition to her parents, Madeline was preceded in death by three brothers; A.L. Craft, Jr., Paul Craft and John Craft. Surviving to cherish her memory is her husband Mac of 68 years; son; Dennis McNames and wife, Martha of Winston-Salem; three grandchildren, Jen (Jake) Eckert of New Orleans, La.; Mary (Jordan) Kramer of Melbourne Fl; and John McNames of Winston-Salem, two great-grandchildren; River Eckert and Quinn Kramer, and a brother, Glenn Craft(Lee) of Jonesboro, Arkansas. The family would like to offer special thanks to Starr Cartrette, Dr. Jeff Williamson and his staff at the Sticht Center, and the Arbor Acres and Hospice staffs that all made her last days as comfortable as possible. A Memorial Service will be conducted at 3:00 pm Sunday at the First Christian Church officiated by Bob Matthews, with a reception immediately following. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Christian Church, 2320 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104, to Hospice and Palliative Care of Winston-Salem, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, NC 27103 or to Arbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community, 1240 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104.

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