JACKSONVILLE  -  Geraldine Venters, 91, of Jacksonville, fell asleep in the hope of Jesus on the morning of Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at Carolina Rivers Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Jacksonville, NC after a stay of 19 months. Graveside funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, December 7, 2024 at Onslow Memorial Park with Pastor Bill Gay, Jr. officiating.

Mrs. Venters was born at home on North Main Street in Fairmont, NC on March 23, 1933 to Lorenzo M. Odom and Margaret Lee Nye Odom. She was their only child and as a youngster her passion was to find other children to play with.  Growing up during the Depression and years of World War II her family moved many times for her father's work.  She attended schools in Fairmont, Wilmington, Lumberton, Camp LeJeune and Jacksonville.  She always loved going to see movies and Westerns were her favorite.  For two years during World War II Jerry lived with her paternal grandparents near Lumberton.  During this time, she gave her heart to Jesus at the age of twelve and was baptized in the Lumber River and into the fellowship of Raft Swamp Baptist Church.  She met James Garland Scott at the Snappy Lunch Café on New Bridge Street.  After some conversation and learning they were both from Robeson County they began dating.  They married in 1951 in Dillon, S.C. and in the next four years they had a boy and a girl.  Jerry became a member of Brookwood Baptist Church in Jacksonville on July 2, 1967.  James died in 1971.  Jerry remarried in 1974 to L.C. "Charlie" Venters, Sr.  They enjoyed fishing and most days could be found on one of the Onslow County piers reeling in their catches.  They were also very active in the CB radio craze of the 1970's.  Charlie died in 1983 after almost nine years of marriage.

Jerry was preceded in death by her parents, both husbands, and a stepdaughter, Peggy Venters Case.

She is survived by her son, Daniel G. Scott and wife Sue of Jacksonville, N.C.; daughter, Debra S. Osmond and husband Donald of Tega Cay, S.C.; and a stepson, L.C. "Huck" Venters and wife Barbara of Cedar Point, N.C.; seven grandchildren: Dwayne, Donald Jr. "DJ", John, Kristen, Brittany, Kimberly, Tanya; seventeen great-grandchildren: Alyssa, Sabrina, Brian, Crosby, Aubrey, Gentry, Brandon, Emily, Zach, Jordan, Lauren, Chloe, Phillip, Abigail, Rebekah, Kellie, Sarah; two great-great-grandchildren: Oaklynn and Jaxson.

Special thanks from the family to Flora Williams, Donnie Mathis, Jessica Hall, Frita M. Lopez-Villegas, and Chris Wallace.

Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, PO Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101-0050 or Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201-0001.