Davidson College – In Memoriam

Charlotte Joe Hall passed away March 17, 2023, comforted by his family and faith, content in knowing he lived by the principles he held sacred: hard work, integrity, and honor. He was 87 years old.

Joe was born on March 22, 1935, the son of Joe and Lucille McGowen Hall. He grew up in Belmont, working in the family peach orchard and then in a local textile mill when he turned 16. Later, he spent teen-age summers working at Carolina Pad & Paper, the school supply company his father started in 1945.

He became the third generation in his family to graduate from Davidson College, earning a B.S. degree in Economics in 1956. Like so many of his generation, Joe served his country for four years in the U.S. Navy, attending Officer Candidate School in 1956. Following this service, he was in the active reserve until he met his wife, Sally Ann Pierce, whom he married in 1964. They put down roots in Charlotte, raised three children, and shared a wonderful life until cancer took her in 2005.

Joe devoted his career to Carolina Pad, rising to the position of owner and CEO, traveling the world to buy products, making lifelong friends with customers, and sealing deals with a handshake. He spent considerable time in South America, China, and India, being one of the first school manufacturers to develop partnerships with suppliers in those areas. Before retiring in 2002, he built the business from a regional company to one with national distribution. He served on the board of the School and Paper Products Association and was presented with a national award in 1994 for contribution to the industry.

After his first wife, Sally Ann, passed away he was fortunate enough to find Heidi Layton, whose husband had passed away in 2006. Joe and Heidi married in May of 2008.

Joe is survived by his wife, Heidi; his three children, Spencer Hall Guthery of Charlotte, and her children, Allen and Henry Guthery, Katherine “Kitty” Hall of Charlotte, Rev. Dr. Joseph Kirkland Hall IV and his wife Amy of Salisbury, CT, and their children, Fae and Evelyn Hall; Joe’s sister, Jane Hall Coley, and her husband Bill, of Charlotte; Heidi’s children, Gil Layton of Parker, CO, and his children, Catherine and Sam Layton, Dr. Thomas Layton and his wife Anne of Charlotte, and their children, James, Thomas, and Ellie Layton; Heidi Berger and her husband Chris of Charlotte, and their children, Molly and Lucy Berger. He is also survived by his cousin and close friend, Emily Hall Bigger and her husband Bill, of Raleigh.

Joe Hall lived a wonderful and full life. He enjoyed and supported Opera Carolina and the Charlotte Symphony, loved spending winters in Florida and summers at Grandfather Mountain, and traveled all over the world for work and pleasure, always learning and appreciating other cultures. Joe was very easy-going, he loved life and his many friends. He was interested in everyone he met and never had an unkind word to say about anyone.

A service to celebrate his well-lived life will be held at 10am on Saturday, March 25 at Myers Park United Methodist Church, 1501 Queens Road, Charlotte. Visitation will follow at the church.

The family greatly appreciates the care and concern of friends. Anyone wishing to make a memorial gift may do so to Myers Park United Methodist Church, 1501 Queens Road, Charlotte, NC 28207 or the charity of the donor’s choice.

The family is also deeply grateful for the love and excellent care shown by Dr. Jane Harrell, the staff at Sharon Towers, Hospice of Charlotte, and McEwen Funeral Service.

Ansley Hugh Moses, a life-long resident of Lookout Mountain, passed away on Sunday morning, March 12, 2023, surrounded by family. He was born July 25, 1930, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Amaziah Jones Moses and Frances Thatcher Moses, and his family moved to Lookout Mountain in 1934 where he grew up next door to his best friend Fletcher Bright.

Ansley graduated from The Bright School in 1942, from the McCallie School in 1948, and from Davidson College in 1952. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1953 entering Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and upon graduation was commissioned as Ensign. He served aboard a patrol craft at the Anti-Submarine Warfare School in Key West, Florida, and later as an officer aboard the USS Gwin, a destroyer stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. Upon his honorable discharge in 1956, he joined the American National Bank and Trust Company in Chattanooga and worked in the commercial lending and investment departments for over 40 years.

He married Betty Holland of Jasper, Tennessee, on June 23, 1962, and they resided on Lookout Mountain. He retired from SunTrust Bank in Chattanooga as Vice President in 1995 and later served the Bank on a part-time basis in the investment area until 2004. Ansley was elected as a Commissioner for the Town of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, in 1988 and served the Town as Mayor from 1990 until 1996. In 2000, he was engaged as Town Consultant and held that position until 2010. In 2006, he was appointed Commissioner to the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority representing the Town of Lookout Mountain until 2014.

He joined the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church at the age of 12 and was active in the church throughout his life serving as Deacon, Elder, and Treasurer. He sang in the church choir for over 30 years. One of his loves in life was bluegrass music. He sang and played the mandolin, the five-string banjo and the bass fiddle. He was a member and lead vocal of the Dismembered Tennesseans bluegrass group for more than 50 years along with his close friends and class-mates Fletcher Bright, Frank McDonald and Ed Cullis.

He was preceded in death by his sisters Jane Moses Ranwez and Nancy Moses Spratlin. His wife of 60 years, Betty Holland Moses, survives him. He is also survived by his daughter, Debbe Moses (Charles) Moredock, and his sons, Ansley Tyler (Mary Grey) Moses and William Holland (Bonnie) Moses. His grandchildren are John Tyler Moredock, Emma Elizabeth Moredock, Ann Tyler Moses, James Thatcher Moses, William Walker Moses and Thomas Holland Moses.

A visitation will be held at 9:45 am, on Friday, March 17, 2023, at the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church with a memorial service to follow at 11:00 am, with a private family burial following the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Renew Fund at the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. The family would like to express its appreciation to the caregivers at Thrive at Brow Wood for the loving care provided to Ansley during the last several months of his life.

Share your memories, stories, and photos at wannfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are by Wann Funeral & Cremation Center at the foot of historic Lookout Mountain, St. Elmo.

George W. Urwick Jr., age 87, passed away on Monday, March 6, 2023. He was born June 10, 1935, in High Point to George W. and Elizabeth Reitzel Urwick.

George grew up in Gastonia and Charlotte and graduated from Riverside Military Academy. He also graduated from Davidson College, earned his MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, and served in the U.S. Navy.

He first worked in Atlanta as a sales manager for 3M Company. George was later hired by Monsanto as a project manager for their film manufacturing plant in New Jersey. He and his family returned to NC, where he accepted a job as national sales manager for Rex Plastics in Thomasville. He eventually did what he always wanted to do and started his own sales company, becoming a manufacturing representative for many large U.S. corporations, selling film and products for the nursery and greenhouse industry.

George is survived by his wife of 64 years, JoAnne Kendall Urwick; three children, Christopher (Devica) of Winterville, NC; Amy of High Point, NC; Lee (Jill) of Ocean Isle Beach, NC; as well as five grandchildren: Aubrey (Austin) Lartch, Adam, Kendall (Stephanie), Jackson, Emily; and one great grandchild Miles Lartch.

A funeral service will be held on Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 2:00 PM at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church in High Point. A private burial will be held.

The family will greet friends following the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

The family is under the care of Sechrest-Davis Funerals and Cremations of Thomasville. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.sechrestdavisthomasville.com – select obituaries.

Kemmer Anderson, McCallie’s unofficial poet laureate, who taught and inspired thousands of boys over his 42-year career on the McCallie faculty, died unexpectedly on Friday, March 3, 2023.

“Yogi,” as he was affectionately called by his students, retired in 2019 but remained active in school life, often attending campus events and visiting former students and faculty members. He was attending the funeral service of a former student, Brice Burbank ’87, when he collapsed. He died a few hours later at Erlanger Hospital.

“Kemmer was one of those legendary faculty members who touched the hearts and minds of thousands of McCallie students over his long career at McCallie,” said Head of School Lee Burns ’87. “His love – for his wife Martha, for his God, for poetry and literature (especially Milton), for academic curiosity, and especially his love for his students and his fellow faculty – was what made Kemmer special to all of us. We will always remember his booming voice, his bright eyes filled with passion and wonder, and his classroom wanderings, which somehow, amazingly, his students were able to follow and appreciate more than adults.”

His wife, Martha, served for many years on the faculty as a counselor and was editor of several of Kemmer’s volumes of poetry. The two traveled throughout the world, often with other McCallie faculty.

According to Martha, funeral services will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Chattanooga.  The funeral is set for Saturday, March 25^th at 11:00 (10:00 visitation with a reception following the service).  St. Paul’s is located at 305 W. 7^th Street in downtown Chattanooga, near several hotels.

A native of New York City, Kemmer was a graduate of Davidson College and Pembroke State University. He served as a lieutenant in Korea. He worked briefly as a brickmaker, a carpenter, and a news reporter before attending Union Theological School in New York, where he decided that his real calling was to teach. He was hired as an English teacher at McCallie in 1977.

At McCallie, he taught virtually all levels of English. He also served as a goalkeeper coach for the varsity soccer team, created and served as faculty advisor to the McCallie chapter of Amnesty International, and held many other formal and informal campus titles. He was the recipient of the Keo Kio Outstanding Teacher Award, as well as many faculty study/travel grants. As an expert on Milton, he traveled to many Milton conferences around the world, including the 400^th birthday conference of Milton in London in 2008. At one conference, he presented a paper on Milton’s influence on American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson.

With Martha’s assistance, Kemmer published numerous volumes of poetry and was eager to read his poems to anyone willing to listen. For close to two decades, he wrote a special Christmas poem that he distributed to fellow faculty members, alumni, and students of his poetry classes. His poetry has appeared in many national and international publications.