Carla Lucille Whitehurst Odom

Carla Lucille Whitehurst Odom entered a larger life on June 3, 2025. She was born August 4, 1942, daughter to Paul Donald and Lucille Martin Whitehurst of Durham, NC, and granddaughter of Charles Henry and Ada Sparrow Whitehurst, and Carlos Ciblon and Myrtle Byrd Martin. She was predeceased by her husband, LTC Charles Robert Odom USA (Ret.). Surviving are her daughters, Charlotte Martin Odom Lytle Perrin (David Courtney, Jr.) and Catherine Lynne Odom Quick (Kenneth Douglas); grandsons Robert Alexander Post Lytle (Callee Henningfeld), Christian Douglas Quick (Emma Hoffman), and Andrew Kenneth Lokie Quick (fiancée Ruby Temelkoff); “sister cousin” Brenda Upchurch Martin; and cousins.

The deceased had been an artist, owner of Odomart, and consultant. Mrs. Odom was educated at Twadell School, Durham City Schools, and was graduated from Campbell College. As the wife of a Career Army Officer she followed where duty called. For 40 years she as either Executrix, Trustee and/or General Business Partner for extended family.

Mrs. Odom requested this paragraph be included in her obituary for the encouragement of other like-minded individuals. During a period in the Cold War, she mailed parts of the Bible in the vernacular to designated individuals behind the Iron Curtain. She has served as a lector, member of the vestry, choir, Sunday School teacher, co-leader of YWA, President of the Protestant Women of the Chapel in Heidelberg, Germany, and guide for a regional ladies’ Bible study in Virginia. The deceased was of the Baptist and Episcopal faith, and a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Durham.

She had been invested as Chevaleresse in the Priory of St. Thomas a’ Becket of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem on the deck of the USS North Carolina. Rotary International named her as a Paul Harris Fellow. She and her family were honored as Family of the Year. She loved gardening, served as President of two Garden Clubs, and was granted life membership in the Garden Club of Virginia. Other activities included service to Girl Scouts of America in six countries; the American Red Cross as an Advanced First Aid Instructor; coordinator for Blood Drives; volunteer in several military hospitals, and Vice President of the Durham Waiting Wives Club. She also served as a DAR volunteer in three veterans’ hospitals in Virginia, and as State Chairman for Veteran Service with the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution and United States Daughters of 1812. She was Vice President of Swamp Fox, and an active member of the Umstead Pines Book Club.

Over her lifetime, Mrs. Odom was actively engaged in over 80 lineage organizations. Of special note were her national leaderships including National Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters; Sons and Daughters of Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar; Presidential Families of America; Order of Descendants of the Justiciars; Plymouth Hereditary Society; Hereditary Order of Descendants of the Loyalists and Patriots of the American Revolution; Order of Alba, Founders Fellowship; Order of the Kings and Queens in the Holy Land; Order of Descendants of El Cid; Hereditary Order of the Red Dragon; Order of the House of Wessex; Hereditary Order of First Families of Massachusetts; National Order of the Blue and Gray; The Winthrop Society; and Order of Founders of the Granville District. She was an Inaugural Patron of the Hereditary Society Community, Honorary Member of the Class of 2016, and served on the HSC Cabinet. Mrs. Odom was a member of The National Gavel Society.

She compiled two prayer books with rituals from District II, for Virginia DAR, and for Descendants of Early Postmasters. She was editor for 17 local, state, or national publications and co-editor of 5. She authored 34 articles on a variety of subjects with 13 articles focusing on “American Heroines of National Defense”. Mrs. Odom was a judge for the Texas Genealogical Society that annually honors native Texans who have made outstanding contributions of service for lineage organizations. Dr. James DeMaris Birchfield dedicated his book Some British Ancestors of Capt. James Blount to Carla Lucille Whitehurst Odom, “whose adventures in medieval genealogy suggested this study.” At the time of her death, she was a contributing editor for several national organizations.

A visitation will be held on Monday, June 9, 2025, at 1:00 pm, with funeral service at 2:00 pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1737 Hillandale Road; Durham, NC 27705; followed by burial at Maplewood Cemetery, 1621 Duke University Road; Durham, NC 27701. Services will be officiated by Rev. Gregory Chevielle Farrand. Pallbearers are Michael Post Lytle, Robert Alexander Post Lytle, Adam Upchurch Martin, Andrew Kenneth Lokie Quick, Christian Douglas Quick, Bryan Keith Dillehay, and John Michael White. Honorary pallbearers are Michael Louie Batuyios, Richard Moore Ives, John Ciblon Martin, David Courtney Perrin, Jr., and Kenneth Douglas Quick. 

The family wishes to recognize the staff of Duke Hospice Care.