It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Gwendolyn Sloan Sink of Mooresville, N.C., who passed away peacefully on March 24, 2026. She was born to Samuel Troy Sloan and Arcola Icenhour Sloan on January 12, 1938, in Kannapolis, N.C. She graduated from A. L. Brown High School and attended Mars Hill College, Catawba College and Appalachian State University, earning Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts degrees in education.

Gwen embraced many roles during her life — she was a wife to her husband of 56 years, a mother to two daughters and a son, a grandmother, a member of her community, and an avid gardener. Above all else, Gwen Sink was a teacher.

Gwen taught primary students, touching many hearts and minds of students at Parkway and Blowing Rock elementary schools in Boone, N.C., with shorter stints at other schools across North Carolina. She believed in the innocent wonder of curiosity and found beauty in small things. She had the patience for mistakes and getting dirty in the spirit of exploring her world through the eyes of her classroom charges. She exceled at communicating with young children, for whom she made playdough and bubbles, read books and helped uncover the wonders of metamorphosis as she hatched butterflies or watched tadpoles become frogs.

As a mother and grandmother, Gwen shared treasured time with her own children and then later with their spouses and her grandchildren. She embraced the same spirit of learning and teaching during retirement with her grandchildren, crafting experiments, projects and adventures. A children’s book was always near at hand.

Gwendolyn was proceeded in death by her loving husband, Donald Sink, and her brothers, Larry Sloan and Gartrell Sloan. She is survived by her three children, Donna Raynor (Alan Raynor), Daryl Sink (Jacquelyn Sink) and Tamberlyn Blinsink (Steven Blinsink); and seven grandchildren, Dakota Raynor, Daulton Sink, Ansley Sink, Whitley Sink, Sloan Blinsink, Darby Blinsink, and Malia Blinsink.

Gwen found great comfort in her congregation at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, in her beautiful flower gardens and in spending time with her wonderful friends, including John Simon.

A Celebration of Life will be held for Gwendolyn at St Mark’s Lutheran Church on June 5 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the National Kidney Foundation (https://www.kidney.org) or St Mark’s Lutheran Church (https://www.saintmarkslutheran.com/give).

Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville, is proudly serving the Sink family.