WINTON – Elsie Winnifred Jordan, 82, died on Sunday, May 29, 2011, following a long illness.

Miss Jordan was born in Winton in Hertford County, North Carolina, on July 21, 1928, the daughter of John Richard Jordan, Senior and Ina Love Mitchell Jordan.

Surviving are her brother, John Richard Jordan, Jr. and wife, Brenda Moore Jordan, of Raleigh; a nephew, John Richard Jordan, III of Macon, Georgia; a niece, Ellen Meares Jordan McCarren and husband, Kenneth, of Wichita, Kansas; two grand-nephews, John Richard Jordan, IV and Jordan Patrick McCarren; two grand-nieces, Frances Marie Jordan and Katherine Buckley McCarren; one step-nephew, E. Scott Harlow; and by two immediate cousins, Mary Elizabeth Mitchell Miller of St. Petersburg, Florida and William Mills Jordan, III of Winton, North Carolina.

She was preceded in death by both of her parents.

After graduating from the public schools of Hertford County, she attended Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina.  She then returned to her native Winton where she joined the staff of the Hertford County Department of Agriculture.  She was soon called to Raleigh by the North Carolina State Agriculture Commission to be Budget Officer for the statewide agricultural operation.

In June of 1967 she went to Chapel Hill to join the administration of the University of North Carolina.  Her first assignment was to the newly formed Frank Graham Child Development Institute.  From there she assumed the post of Administrator of Contract Grants to the UNC medical facility at the School of Medicine and to the North Carolina Memorial Hospital there.  After more than two decades in this difficult activity involving the distribution of millions of dollars in research funds, she retired from the University and returned to live in her childhood home in the Town of Winton.

By the end of her long life she was regarded as one of the matriarchs of the community and was an active participant in the cultural and historical restoration activities of the area.  She was a member of The Jamestowne Society, composed exclusively of the direct descendants of the first English colonists in America (1607 and 1609), a member of the board of directors of the Hertford County Historical Society, of the Winton Historical and Recreation Commission, and the board of directors of The Century Post Office Museum Foundation in Winton, a museum facility which she co-founded.

She was also a member of the board of the Bertie-Hertford County Division of the North Carolina Community Foundation, a member of the Hertford County Chapter of the North Carolina Symphony Society and was co-settler of a trust to provide annual concerts by that Symphony in Hertford County in honor of her mother, Ina Mitchell Jordan, a revered teacher of music in North Eastern North Carolina.

Miss Jordan was an accomplished pianist.  She was first trained in piano by her mother, and later had additional training while a student at Greensboro College.

She was a member of the Baptist Church, with affiliations in both Winton and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Friends are invited to join the family for a graveside funeral service on Saturday, June 4 at 11:00 a.m. in the Jordan Family Cemetery in Winton.

Miller Funeral Home, 304 Main Street, Gatesville, North Carolina, is assisting the family with arrangements.

Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.