Woman's Death Puzzles Many
Ann Faggart dies suddenly in her sleep

BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

KANNAPOLIS - Nearly two weeks have passed since Iris Ann Efird Faggart, a Kannapolis native and mother of three, died in her sleep.

Yet authorities, including the state Medical Examiner's Office, remain as puzzled as friends and family members about her death.

Why would a seemingly healthy 32-year-old mother quietly pass away in bed at her parents' Kannapolis home, just hours after eating pizza and playing charades with her children and sisters during a family sleep-over?

Preliminary autopsy results have ruled out a heart attack, aneurism or any other ''normally visible cause of death,'' according to the Rev. Jeffrey Dale Faggart, her husband of 10 years.

Sgt. Bret Johnson of the Kannapolis Police Department said the Medical Examiner's Office has not determined why Faggart died, a case he called ''unusual but not unheard of.'' Sgt. Joe Allen said investigators ''found nothing to indicate criminal activity'' at the scene. He referred to the case as a ''limited investigation.''

Aside from the mystery surrounding the cause of her death, an even more troubling question for some is simply, ''Why Ann?''

Many knew her as a devout Christian and devoted mother. She helped her husband, a pastor at Harvest Baptist Church in Rimertown, run a Bible distribution business out of their home.

Just before falling asleep on Feb. 5, Ann Faggart spent some ''family altar time'' praying with her sisters and their children, her husband said. Her mother, Iris Harrington Efird, said Monday a higher power seemed to be preparing her daughter for death.

Why Ann?

For her husband, that question may be most properly answered with another: Are you prepared to die?

Jeffrey Faggart believes his wife was ''100-percent'' prepared spiritually for her death.

''We never know why,'' Jeffrey Faggart explained Monday. ''God knows what he's doing. He doesn't make mistakes.

''Hopefully, maybe, this might help someone else walk closer to Him.''

Ann Faggart grew up in Kannapolis and graduated in 1984 with honors from A.L. Brown High School. She later graduated with honors from Williams Jennings Bryant College in Tennessee.

She and her husband had three children: Iris Ann, 7; Jeffrey Dale Jr., or J.D., 5; and Paul, 18 months.

''Caring for her family was a full-time job,'' her husband said. ''Of course, she didn't mind. She did it well.''

Jeffrey Faggart said he and the rest of his family were touched by the those who attended Ann Faggart's funeral services on Feb. 9.

''She was from a big, well-known family. And she was loved,'' Billy A. Honeycutt Jr., a close friend of the Faggart family and pastor at Landis Baptist Church, said.

Ann Efird Faggart grew up one of seven children of R. Don Efird and Iris Harrington Efird. She had one sister and five brothers.

About 600 Kannapolis area residents and dozens of local preachers attended the service, her husband said. Ann Faggart's brother, Larry Douglas Efird, read a poem at the service, one he wrote after watching over her children the day their mother died. The poem is based on observations the children made about their mother and life and death, according to Ann Faggart's mother, Iris.

Jeffrey Faggart said the viewing the night before his wife's funeral lasted until after 1 the next morning, and many mourners eventually left because they ran out of time.

Friends of the family have set up a fund for her children in her name at First Bank on Loop Road.

Jeffrey Faggart was in Salisbury at a revival service the night his wife died and did not return to their Grace Avenue home until about 1 a.m., he said. Expecting his late return, Ann Faggart had planned to stay over at her parents' home on Iris Avenue with her sisters and family friends, he said.

Evidently, she died about 2 a.m. A family member discovered her body at about 5 a.m., when Ann's youngest child awoke and began crying, Jeffrey Faggart said.

Medical examiners plan to continue to run more tests to determine why Ann died, Jeffrey Faggart said. It could takes weeks or months to find out, he said.

Ann's medical history apparently holds few obvious clues to a possible cause of death, Jeffrey Faggart said. During college Ann apparently suffered from a rare joint ailment called erythema nodosum, but the doctors looking into Ann's death haven't determined whether that earlier illness could have played a factor in her death, Jeffrey Faggart said.

''We have encouraged them to look into that,'' he said, in case there are hereditary factors the family needs to know.