Trina Boitnott

Trina Maria Wildhaber Boitnott defeated cancer and walked into the victory of heaven early Easter morning, surrounded by her family and cherished friends.

To know Trina is to know the passion, encouragement, service, and love of Christ. A brilliant, vibrant woman, she was gifted with a beautiful sense of humor and a signature laugh that filled a room. She was eternally a servant to family, friends, and her community, and devoted her life to the betterment of others.

She provided a powerful model of a godly marriage with her husband Dale, and devoted herself to raising her children with laughter, fun, and a lifetime of love.

Growing up in Salem, Virginia, Trina excelled both academically and athletically, receiving top grades and winning many state wide medals in track and field. She graduated Suma Cum Laude from Virginia Tech in business management and received her teaching license from Ferrum College.

After graduation, Trina taught preschool and worked as an EMT for Roanoke EMS and Appalachian search and rescue. She began teaching special education at Franklin County high school, and started a career education program for her students called the Jet Program, which she continued after she retired from teaching to raise her family. As her children grew, she began working as the children’s director at Franklin Heights church, leading vacation bible schools, church camps, and cherishing the children around her as she did her own. She volunteered with her children’s extracurricular activities as well, leading Odyssey of the Mind teams to state competitions and never missing an athletic or academic event.

Once Trina’s children graduated college, she studied at Liberty University while working full time and received her masters in clinical mental health counseling, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She began working with Piedmont Community Services, and was determined to make a difference in the community. Despite her cancer diagnosis, she worked every day she was physically able, with a tenacity and passion that she had shown through so much of her life, even winning the Marie Craddock award.

In her own words, Trina would like to share the principles she lived her life by:

• -Always be kind and considerate
• -Think of others before yourself
• -Always be humble - Nobody likes a know it all or a smarty pants
• -Say you are sorry often, sometimes even when you know you are not wrong
• -If you have a dream, do not wait to try to make it come true
• -Try to encourage or make someone laugh everyday

“Death is not the end of my story. My greatest story is yet to be in eternity! The story is not over. My greatest prayer for you is to stay near to Jesus in saving faith and know the power of his resurrection. Don’t lose Faith. This life is hard but it is only for a little while. There is a glorious eternity waiting for you if you have Jesus as Lord of your life. 1 Peter 5:10 ‘And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.’ I will meet you there.”

Trina is preceded in death by her parents, Joseph Franklin and Anita Reynolds Wildhaber; aunt, Glo Wildhaber; and many beloved grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

She is survived by her husband, C. Dale Boitnott; children, Joshua (Rory) Boitnott and Brittany Boitnott (Brandon Rhinehart); sisters, Kathy (Benjamin) Bowman and Cindy Kagey; mother-in-law, Linda Boitnott, sister-in-law, Andrea Boitnott; aunt, Jane Lyle; niece and nephews; numerous cousins; her Grit Girls bible study; and many treasured friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Funeral services will be held at Franklin Heights Church 11:00 a.m. Friday, April 10, 2026. Interment will follow in Mountain View Memorial Park. Her family will receive friends 5-8 p.m. Thursday at Franklin Heights Church. Arrangements by Flora Funeral Service and Cremation Center, Rocky Mount.