This obituary was originally published on Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home.
A loving wife, mother, daughter and daughter-in-law, Laura Kohlstedt Downing, 60, died Dec. 27, 2025, while visiting family in Raleigh.
“She was glowing on her birthday,” husband Michael Downing said about her birthday celebration. “The happiest I’ve ever seen her. She told my Aunt Martha, ‘I’m the happiest person in the world.’”
Born Dec. 26, 1965, in Orlando, Fla., to the late Roger Winston Kohlstedt and Betty Kohlstedt, . she lived with her stepfather and mother in Concord, Greenville, S.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Greensboro.
She was a 1987 graduate of Meredith College with a B.A. degree in Fashion merchandising before moving to Fayetteville in 1988, when she married Michael Downing on June 17, 1989, at the Village Chapel in Pinehurst.
“She was beautiful coming down the aisle,” Michael Downing said, “and beautiful every time I saw her.”
She was a woman of all seasons –Thanksgiving, Christmas and an Easter Sunrise service at Ocean Isle Beach. She had a love for fashion and art, and the hues of color. She was a decorator and could make a house a home. She could cook like a chef, and her Chicken Marsala was a family delight, and her homemade oatmeal and molasses cookies always a treat.
A husband and a son and a daughter were her life, and a 16-month granddaughter brought her the greatest joy, with anticipation of another granddaughter on the way.
“She gave the best hugs,” daughter Megan Downing Moravick said. “She made sure you felt her love. And she didn’t let go until you did.”
She loved dressing to the nines for parties, and making sure a husband’s tuxedo bowtie was knotted just right. She liked hosting dinner parties at her home, with the dining-room table set with the plates, saucers, cups, wine glasses and cutlery perfectly in place.
When friends and neighbors grieved, she always was there to share in their grief, and just for them to know they were not alone.
She was a mother who never told her children how to live their lives.
“She led by example,” son Michael Downing Jr. said. “She was one of the best teachers to me and my sister about how we should live. She was so good at showing us what to do. She handled things with such grace and purpose.”
She was kind. She was generous. She was a giver. She was selfless. She wasn’t pretentious. She carried herself with a self-reserved poise and a way of her own.
“She lived to make others happy,” Michael Downing Jr. said. “She could just fill a room with happiness. I’m confident this community will be able to get us through this.”
Survivors are husband Michael Downing of Fayetteville; son Michael Downing Jr. and wife Elizabeth “Biz” of Raleigh; daughter Megan Downing Moravick and husband Ryan of Raleigh; granddaughter Charlotte Downing of Raleigh; stepfather Lee James and mother Betty James of Aiken, S.C.; father-in-law Tildon Downing and mother-in-law Bettie Downing of Fayetteville; brother Jeff Kohlstedt of Little Rock, Ark.; extended family members; and Kevin, the Boykin spaniel, and Cash, the English Cream retriever.
A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, at Hay Street United Methodist Church, with visitation scheduled from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers and food, donations may be made to FAPS, Saint Jude’s, or Shriners Children’s Hospital.
Online condolences may be left at http://www.jerniganwarren.com
Funeral arrangements entrusted to Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home, 545 Ramsey St., Fayetteville, NC 28301.