Published 3:04 pm Friday, August 23, 2024 By The Daily News Elizabeth “Beth” Leonard Szymeczek peacefully passed away from cancer on Monday, August 19, 2024 at the age of 57. She was surrounded by her loving family. Beth was born in Winston-Salem, NC and spent her childhood in Myrtle Beach, SC and Washington, NC.
It was in Washington where she met her husband of 34 joy-filled years, Jim Szymeczek. Beth double majored in Economics and English and graduated Cum Laude from Wake Forest University in 1989. She received her MA in English from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1991.
Beth and Jim were married in 1990, and they moved to Wilmington, NC in 1995 where she built the exact life that she wanted. They had three children: Mary Anne Piepmeyer (nee Szymeczek), Matthew Szymeczek, and Suzy Szymeczek. Beth leaves a legacy of being a wonderful, selfless, and supportive mom.
In large and small ways, she lived every day as a perfect mother and best friend to her three children. She will be loved and missed, and forever remembered and honored as her children live by the examples she set of how to build a loving family. In addition to her husband and children, Beth is survived by: her parents, Don Leonard of Myrtle Beach and Dr.
Josh and Carol Tayloe of Washington; 5 sisters and their families; 2 sisters-in-laws and 2 brothers-in-laws and their families; her mother-in-law; and her son-in-law. Beth was very active at St. Mary Catholic School for many years as well as “team mom” for countless a.