Richard Noble Aycock, Jr. ’39

Richard Noble Aycock, Jr. ’39  of Smithfield, N.C. died May 20, 2006. After he graduated from Davidson with a degree in math and physics, he taught high school mathematics in Rowan County. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps Weather Division at the rank of technical sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theatre during World War II. He and his wife settled in Smithfield, N.C. and he established Aycock Propane Gas Service. He retired after thirty-three years in January 1980. For several years he also operated Aycock Pecan, a purchasing station, in Smithfield, N.C. He joined Centenary United Methodist Church in 1947 and served as secretary of the Sunday school division for many years. He was a member of the Rotary Club and served as president in 1962-1963 and as secretary for twenty years. He was awarded Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. He was a member of the American Legion Pou-Parrish Post in Smithfield, N.C. and was the athletic officer for American Legion Baseball in Smithfield for twenty-seven years. He was inducted into the American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. He was a member of the China-Burma-India Veterans Association. He was a member of the Johnston County Voiture 1517 Forty and Eight (40/8) Legionnaires Group and served as “Chef de Gare” (president) of the group as well as other supportive offices. In the 1960s Mr. Aycock called for the Smithfield Squares (an adult square dance club) and established and called a teenage square dance club in Wilson’s Mills, N.C. Survivors include his wife of fifty-six years, Evelyn Turner Aycock, 901 S. Second St., Smithfield, N.C. 27577; his son, Richard Noble Aycock, III of Garner, N.C., and his daughter, Frances Aycock Kiker of Salem, Va. He also leaves five grandsons: Mr. Aycock’s siblings are William Aycock ’41 of Fayetteville, N.C., the late Jane Aycock Sigmon of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Everett Aycock of Elizabethton, Tenn., and Daniel Aycock of Rock Hill, SC.