Category: 1920s

The Rev. Dr. William Fife Long died on Thursday, November 5 at Salemtowne Babcock Health Care in Winston-Salem. He was born February 9, 1926, in High Point, the son of the late David Allison Long Jr. and Jennie Mae Fife Long of Thomasville. He grew up in Thomasville where he was a member of First Presbyterian Church and served as its organist while still in high school.

A WWII veteran, he served in the 78th Infantry Division 1st Battalion of the 310th Regiment, and participated in the battles of Remagen Bridgehead and Ruhr Pocket. Following VE-Day he was a chaplain’s assistant in Berlin before being discharged in 1946. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

He graduated from Davidson College in 1949 and UNC Law School in 1952, and later earned a D.Min. degree from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. He met his wife, Ann Phifer Hammond, in Charlotte while practicing law, and they married in 1955.

Ordained on January 26, 1958 as a Presbyterian minister, he served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Mocksville, Armstrong Memorial Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, and First Presbyterian Church of Hamlet.

Dr. Long and his wife moved back to Mocksville in 1980 where they restored and lived in the historic Jesse Clement House before moving to Salemtowne Retirement Community in 2006. He was honorably retired by Salem Presbytery in 1984 but continued working as Interim Supply or Temporary Supply in Salem Presbytery. He also was a part-time chaplain at the VA Hospital in Salisbury.

Dr. Long was active in YMCA work in Davie County and in the American Cancer Society in Gastonia, and also in the ministerial associations of communities he served. He was a commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1975, and was a trustee of Davidson College from 1972 to 1980.

Surviving are his wife of 65 years, Ann; his daughter Nancy Metzler and her husband, Charles, of Charlotte; his son, William F. Long, Jr. and husband Dr. Raymond Hahn of San Francisco; three grandchildren, Elizabeth Metzler, Andrew Metzler and his wife Jessica, and John Metzler; a sister, Mary Jarrell of High Point; a brother, the Rev. Dr. David Long of Jamestown and his wife Mellie; and an extended and well-loved family of cousins, nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held on Monday, November 9, 2020 at 11:00 am at the Long family plot at Calvary United Church of Christ cemetery, 1410 Lexington Ave., in Thomasville, NC 27360.

Memorials may be made to Salemtowne Resident Assistance Fund, or to Presbyterian World Missions @ presbyterianmission.org. Online condolences may be sent to www.jcgreenandsons.com.

John Addison Ricks, Jr. ’29, 103, passed away Aug. 13, 2010, at Waddell Nursing Home in Galax, Va. He was the son of John A. Ricks, Sr. and Ruth Harriss Ricks. He was born Dec. 23, 1906, in Greenville, N.C. He was a proud and loyal alumnus of Davidson. He also graduated from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., in 1932.

His first pastorate was at historic Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Rocky River, N.C.

In 1941, he moved to Webber City, N.C., with his wife, Mamye. He organized a Presbyterian congregation in the community, meeting in a vacant automotive garage for 11 years and eventually laboring alongside church members as they cut trees, planed lumber, and constructed a building for Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

After 15 years there, he and his family moved to Roanoke, Va., where he served as pastor at Belmont Presbyterian Church for 17 years. In 1973, he was called to Hillsville, Va., and served as pastor at Dinwiddie and Fairview Presbyterian Churches until his retirement.

He also served as interim pastor at Anderson Memorial Presbyterian Church in Pulaski, Va., and supplied Westminster Chapel of First Presbyterian Church, also in Pulaski.

In addition to his parents, Ricks was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Mamye Turner Ricks; his son, William Timothy Ricks ’71; grandson, William Scott Ricks; sister, Julia Hodges; brother, George Harris Ricks; and nephew, John Ricks Hodges.

Survivors include his son, John A. Ricks III ’61 (Elaine), 201 E. Beech St., Cochran, GA 31014-8510; daughter, Mary Elizabeth Whartenby (Tom); grandchildren, Anne Ricks Lampton, J. Addison Ricks IV, Bryan Glover, David Whartenby, and Kathryn Whartenby; great-grandchildren, Amy and Maggie Lampton; niece, Norwood Strasberger; nephews, G. Harris Ricks, Jr. ’75 (Wendy Smith Ricks ’81) and Tom Hodges ’50.

George William Crawford ’29, of Statesville, N.C., died Nov. 3 at his home at the age of 103. Crawford was born Oct. 21, 1906, and was the son of the late John Clifton and Mary Niblock Crawford of the Chambersburg (Bethany) township of Iredell County. He completed Davidson with honors, earned his master’s degree at UNC Chapel Hill, and later his Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

In 1940, he was called into service during World War II and served as lieutenant colonel of infantry in the European Theater as a member of the First U.S. Army Headquarters. He took part in Normandy, Central European, and Rhineland campaigns, being awarded six ribbons and three campaign stars.

On May 19, 1934, George married Frances Knox of Cornelius, who died Aug. 21, 1991. They had no children but both chose to educate children. She taught first grade, and he served as a professor of physics at N.C. State University, Davidson College, and The College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Va.). He retired from William and Mary, and they named him professor emeritus of physics. He cherished the title of “professor.”

In addition to enjoying teaching, he had many interests and hobbies, including forms of woodworking (marquetry and furniture making). Until he was nearly 100, he shared his knowledge of astronomy through articles and star charts published in the Statesville Record & Landmark.

A lifelong Presbyterian, Crawford has served his church as a deacon, elder, and teacher and on many committees. Until recently, he rarely missed Sunday worship at Forest Park.

He is survived by a nephew, Robert C. Crawford, and by nieces, Agnes C. Mayes, 849 Old Mocksville Rd., Statesville, NC 28625; Mary Frances C. Holland; Sara C. Wolfson; and Betty Crawford.

In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by his brothers, Fred N. Crawford, Sr., James A. Crawford, and Thomas N. Crawford, and by a nephew, Fred N. Crawford, Jr. He is also survived by several great- and great-great-nieces and nephews, whom he adored.

Charles Ernest Edgar, Jr. ’28, a Mobile businessman and civic leader who was the Mobile Rotary Club’s 2003 Rotarian of the Year, died August 1, 2007. He was 100 years old. Born two weeks after the hurricane of 1906 blew through town, he lived through a century of Gulf Coast changes.

After being a student in Mobile’s public schools through seventh grade, he transferred to University Military School and graduated in 1924, later becoming one of the 15 original members of the school’s board of trustees. He attended Davidson for two years, returning to Mobile to work in a prospering business, Coca-Cola. He eventually worked his way up to the position of treasurer.

Edgar and his lifelong buddy, Augustine “Gus” Meaher Jr., spent many an afternoon after school, Edgar said, heading out to Belle Camp, the Bellingraths’ property prior to its opening as Bellingrath Gardens, to hunt and fish. They hunted together every Saturday until Meaher’s death in 2001.

A former member of the Mobile Junior Chamber of Commerce and the board of the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation, Edgar’s sense of Bellingrath history was treasured by many.

He was preceded in death by his first and second wives, Amelia Lyon Moore, then Mary Leila Williams. Survivors include his two sons, Maj. Gen. Ernest Edgar III of Auburn and Walter Bellingrath Edgar ’65, 1731 Hollywood Dr., Columbia, S.C .29205; a daughter, Serena Edgar Willcox of Mobile; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, including Elizabeth Rean Edgar ’96.

William Kendrick Pritchett ’29, one of the nation’s foremost scholars on Greek language, culture and literature, died May 29, 2007, in his Berkeley home after a fall. As a UC Berkeley professor of Greek, he patiently helped students beginning to learn the difficult language. But in the academic world, he reveled in his reputation as a combative scholar, eager to challenge other academics and long-accepted beliefs.

During his 28 years as a professor in the department of classics—including four as its chairman—and after his retirement, he wrote more than 30 books and 100 articles. The topics included ancient Greek grammar and syntax, literature and historiography, topography, war, religion, political institutions, chronography, and the study of inscriptions carved into marble.

But he always loved teaching, and despite his experience and reputation, insisted on teaching elementary Greek as often as possible.

At Davidson he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He earned a master’s from Duke University in 1930. He earned a doctorate in 1942 from Johns Hopkins University. From 1936 to 1942, he was a researcher in the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor and rose to the rank of captain before leaving the military and returning to Princeton.

In 1948, he was hired as an associate professor of Greek in the UC Berkeley classics department. At UC, he distinguished himself as an authority in the fields of Greek typography, military science and practice, and the intricacies of the Athenian calendar and time-reckoning. He traveled extensively in Greece to establish the veracity of such historians as Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon and Polybios, whose accounts were often viewed with skepticism by modern academics.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Dow, and daughter, Katherine. He is survived by two grandchildren.