Alice Wynne Suiter Gatsis

ROCKY MOUNT – Alice Wynne Suiter Gatsis, age 95, died peacefully on August 8, 2023. She was born at Parkview Hospital in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on September 19, 1927. She was the daughter of Thomas Bayton Suiter and Alice Irene Wynne Suiter. She is preceded in death by her husband, General Andrew John Gatsis, her brother Dr. Thomas Bayton Suiter, Jr., five years her senior, and wife Antoinette “Toni” Culler Smith Suiter. This family was devoted to each other and the great American principle of God, country, and family. Alice Wynne attended St. Genevieve of the Pines School in Asheville, North Carolina, and both Rocky Mount Elementary School and Braswell Elementary School in Rocky Mount. She was graduated from RM Wilson High School with honors and attended Wesleyan Conservatory in Macon, Georgia, and Greensboro College in NC. She was on the Dean’s List and selected for the Honor Society at Greensboro College. Her major was Performance in Voice. She followed in the footsteps of her mother and paternal grandmother, Virginia Brittle Suiter, who were both graduated from Greensboro College. Throughout her life, Alice Wynne did solo work in choirs and sang at the many military locations where the family was stationed. In September 1946, Alice Wynne was presented at the North Carolina Debutante Ball sponsored by the Terpsichorean Club of Raleigh. It was the first ball held following World War II. 1949 brought into her life Lieutenant Andrew John Gatsis of Birmingham, Alabama. They were married that same year in the Cadet Chapel of the United States Military Academy at West Point, beginning a true and devoted marriage that lasted 61 years until General Gatsis’ death in March 2010. General Gatsis’ 30 year Army career afforded the family many interesting experiences. Duty stations included the Pentagon in Washington, DC; Long Island, New York; Paris, France; and Honolulu, Hawaii. They retired to Rocky Mount in August 1975. Alice Wynne was a member of The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of North Carolina, Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Life and Letters Book Club, Great Books Club, The John Birch Society, and the Freedom First Society. She was a devoted member of the Anglican Orthodox Church. It was her great privilege to be Chairman of North Carolinians Against the Equal Rights Amendment; its defeat preserved the important Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It was a good moment for her when Senator Jesse Helms, moved by Alice Wynne’s speech on the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution, read her speech on the floor of the United States Senate and asked that it be placed into the Congressional Record. It was done. Alice Wynne is survived by her four children, Alice Wynne, and husband, Gerry Robert Coleman, of Bronxville, New York, Margaret Ellen and husband, Robert Darrell Cressionnie, of New Orleans, LA, Andrew John Gatsis, Jr. of Rocky Mount, and John Thomas Gatsis of Raleigh; her niece Antoinette Culler Suiter of Rocky Mount; and her nephew Thomas Bayton Suiter, III and wife, Julia Hosimer Suiter, of Raleigh. A Funeral Service to celebrate Alice Wynne’s life will be held on Monday, August 14, 2023, at 2:00 PM in the Chapel of Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 1130 N. Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804, with Rt. Rev. R. Dennis Campbell officiating. A Private Burial will be at Pineview Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM prior to the service in the Atrium of Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home and Cremation Services. The family would like to express heartfelt gratitude to our devoted caregivers: Daphine Minchew, Andrea Minchew, Lou Brown, Teresa Robinson, Tracey Williams, and Ashley Acosta. Also, the family wishes to thank Chris Brown, Ellen Joyner, and Laverne Costa for their years of faithful service, support, and most importantly friendship. Memorial contributions may be made to the Anglican Orthodox Church P.O. Box 128 Statesville, NC 28687-0128. Arrangements entrusted to Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1130 N. Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. You may share memories and condolences with the family by visiting www.wheelerwoodlief.com.