Mrs. Rebecca Williams Starling, 32, of Fayetteville (St. Charles, MO), passed away Friday, December 23, 2016.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 31, 2016, at 2 pm in Jernigan Warren Chapel. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 12:30 to 2 pm at the funeral home.

Rebecca returned with family from the Philippines and grew up in Louisiana and North Carolina. She was such a happy little girl, never meeting a stranger. Her blonde curls and dimples could brighten anyone's day.

She graduated from Cape Fear High School with her certification as a nursing assistant and used that to help with expenses for college, working at Bethesda Nursing Home. Rebecca graduated from FTCC with an associate degree in Biotechnology and worked there as a lab assistant while pursuing her Bachelor's degree through UNC at Fayetteville State.

Rebecca was soon working in the field she loved as a scientist with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals first in Sanford, NC and then in Chesterfield, MO. She was excited about her move back to NC to be closer to family and to work on a cure for neuromuscular diseases through gene Research/Therapy. I'm sure if she had, had the opportunity; she could have explained it much better. Sadly, due to a horrific motor vehicle crash she never arrived.

In 2007, Rebecca married the love of her life. Wesley was supportive of Rebecca's ambitious career. Together they had two beautiful little girls. Wesley left his job to go to Missouri and later to stay at home with them so Rebecca could have her career and be a mother.

Rebecca loved her girls so much; they brought out her greatest smiles. She loved to do crafts with them and was quite accomplished in flower arranging and photography. She would put together "experiments" for the girls to see how chemicals react in different situations and dressed one in a shirt that said, "Forget princess. I want to be a Scientist".

Yes, life will go on without Rebecca here, but there will be such a void left without her.

Rebecca is survived by her husband, Wesley Thomas Starling, II.; her daughters, Clarice Mae Starling and Michelle Hope Starling; parents, Michael Dean and Mary W. Williams of Fayetteville; two brothers, Michael D. Williams, Jr. of St. Charles, MO and James Alfred Williams of Fayetteville; and her grandmother, Nellie Peters Warren of Fayetteville.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Jacob Alexander Williams; and her grandparents, Alfred and Inza Williams and Donald J. Warren, Sr.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Rebecca W. Starling Children's Fund, C/O Mary Williams, 130 Old Vander Rd. Fayetteville, N.C. 28312