Community remembers North Carolina teacher who died in golf cart accident

PERQUIMANS COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) — Melissa Fields left an indelible mark on thousands of children in Perquimans County, and many others there as an educator and in Edenton with her vinyl-okie performances.

Friends, along with others who knew her, are recalling her zest for life following her death a week after she was involved in an accident after her head hit the pavement following an Aug. 24 accident in a golf cart, according to Edenton Police.

Fields worked in Perquimans County Schools for 30 years and was a beloved educator with a deep love of children and children’s books, having been a teacher, principal and administrator there.

But she is also being remembered at the Edenton Bay Trading Company, where she often performed with her husband, Eddie, every Saturday on Vinyl Night.

You know you’re there when you see the caricatures of the two of them.

“We call it vinylokie,” said Malcolm King, owner of Edenton Bay Trading Company. “So you know what karaoke is? This is vinyl-okie.”

It began 10 years ago — a meeting of the minds, so to speak, with King, the business owner.

“I said, ‘Look, I don’t get it,'” King said. “‘[But] if you want to give it a try, we’ll do it,’ and so, we did it.”

King took the lead from Eddie and Melissa to do something fun in Edenton.

“If people are in Edenton on a Saturday, every place they go in town, they say, ‘You’ve got to go to Vinyl Night,'” King said. “The community support for Vinyl Night and the community support for Eddie and Melissa is phenomenal.”

They may not have been the first, but here, they are the best.

“They invented it,” King said. “I’m sure other people in other places in the world have done Vinyl Night, but no one does Vinyl Night like we do Vinyl Night. … But there is a lot more going on on Vinyl Night than a guy playing records. It’s an interactive show. People are involved. Eddie makes everybody a star.”

It’s a show, and Melissa and Eddie are the stars.

“And they perform along with records,” King said, “those that want to. Not everybody does. Some people just want to watch. But they perform along with the record. As a kid, when you like to stand in front of the mirror and pretend, you’re a rock-and-roll star. You get to do that here with fake plastic instruments and fake plastic microphones, and you’re a rock-and-roll star for whatever song you chose do to.”

With Melissa Fields’ death, Vinyl Night’s future could be uncertain.

There is great sadness here — and all around.

A beloved educator

In a picture under balloons, Fields and Perquimans County Schools Superintendent Dr. Tanya Turner are seen having known each other in education nearly 31 years.

“We started; I began teaching in the fifth grade in 1992. She started teaching in the fourth grade in 1993, so, I’ve known her ever since we began our careers together,” Turner said. “She was probably one of the [ones] fuller of life than anybody that we would ever meet. She always had a big smile on her face. She was always full of positive energy.”

And you knew when Fields walked into the room.

“You cannot be in the room with Melissa and not fall in love with her,” Turner said, “and I think you see that as a result of her passing, how people are reacting to that, and the numbers of people that are reacting to that. You can meet Melissa for five minutes and never forget her.”

Turner said Fields looked at all children the same, and she loved really big.

“She never knew a stranger,” Turner said. “And she embraced all the people. It didn’t matter who the person was, where they came from, what they brought with them. She loved all people, and she made everybody that she came in contact with feel like they were the most important person in the room. And people felt touched by her. They felt special … just because of the way she treated them.”

Fields held many positions over the years, including principal at Perquimans High School, and most recently, before she retired, next door acting as chief academic officer.

And, oh, did she love books.

“I think she read every every child’s book that she could have ever named,” Turner said. “She read it, and she could tell you about the best books to read in your classroom and how to integrate them in with whatever you were teaching in your classroom. She made books come alive. She definitely had a passion for literacy.”

Turner said Fields was a regional principal of the year, and a national elementary school principal of the year, also.

Turner did not want to talk about Fields’ death except to say this:

“I think I was in shock because she’s so vibrant, she’s so full of life,” Turner said. “And to think that she was in this tragic situation was heartbreaking because you just don’t picture Melissa that way.”

The picture many will continue to have is that of a beloved, book-loving educator who had a zest for life.

“We, the community, me included, all loved Melissa,” King said. “I have known her for 10 years. She is a tremendous part of our lives, and we’ll miss her dearly.”

The family of Melissa Fields received friends Tuesday, and will do so from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Edenton Bay Trading Company, 407 S. Broad St., Edenton. A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Perquimans County High School gymnasium.

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