Category: 1984

Elizabeth Lacy Clore, 58, of Conover passed away on Saturday, July 4, 2020, at her residence.

She was born March 8, 1962 in Richland County to the late John W. Clore and to Julia Woods Hunt of Kings Mountain. Beth was insightful and kind, and sometimes a little impatient. She expected the best from people and could be irritable when she didn’t get it. Beth remembered birthdays and anniversaries with a card in the mail, she brought souvenirs from her vacations to family and friends (she did love a gift shop), she would put candy on her desk for her colleagues, and even remembered our pets.

Beth was a voracious reader, loved movies, and had a wide range of interests from history and philosophy to Shark week to head-banging heavy metal music to sports.

She loved her two cats, Lilith and Chester Bennington, who will be lost without her to spoil them. Beth leaves behind her mother, Julia Woods Hunt of Kings Mountain; sisters, Julia Clore-Laurich and husband Cliff Laurich of Kings Mountain, Catherine Strange of Kings Mountain; nephews who probably learned too much from her when they were teenagers because she was the coolest Auntie; family and friends who will miss her humor and stories. Greeting her upon her death were her father, John Clore; brother-in-law, Lance Strange; grandparents, step-father, Gene Hunt and uncle, John Woods.

Memorials may be made to Family Guidance Center, 17 US Hwy 70 SE, Hickory, NC 28602, www.fgcservices.com or Humane Society of Catawba County, 3224 20th Ave. SE, Hickory, NC 28602, catawbahumane.org.

A private service to celebrate Elizabeth’s life will be held on a later date.

Bennett Funeral Service online posting.

Dr. James Rene’ Herlong, 58, passed away on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. He was born December 24, 1961, in Rock Hill, SC, to Eleanor Reid Herlong and the late E.E. “Doc” Herlong.

In addition to his mother, Rene’ is survived by numerous aunts, uncles and cousins who loved and admired him.

Rene’ attended Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, Davidson College and Duke University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Duke University Medical Center.

An expert in pediatric echocardiography, he was chief of pediatric cardiology for Levine Children’s Hospital and Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. Rene’ also served as an adjunct professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Rene’ was one of the founders and assistant director of Camp LUCK, a camp for children with significant heart disease. For more than 20 years, he used two weeks of vacation each year to serve as camp doctor for YMCA’s Camp Cherokee.

In 2015, he was a finalist for the NC Medical Society’s Doctor of the Year. Fluent in Spanish, Rene’ volunteered for many medical mission trips to Central and South America.

Rene’ also had a beautiful singing voice, and for more than 30 years sang “O Holy Night” for the Christmas Eve service at his home church, First Associate Reformed Presbyterian in Rock Hill.

Memorials may be made in Dr. Herlong’s name to First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 201 East White Street, Rock Hill SC, 29730.

Services will be announced at a later date. Condolences may be made at www.greenefuneralhome.net.

Copyright, 2020, The Herald, a division of East Coast Newspapers, Inc.

Anderson Butler Scott, age 58, died on January 11, 2020, at his home in Atlanta, Georgia, following a two-year battle with lung cancer. His final days were spent quietly with his family.

He is survived by his wife, Amy Miller, his children, Mary Amanda Scott and Anderson Baytop Scott, and their mother, Amanda Barber Scott all of Atlanta, his father, James Marks Scott, his sister, Fairlie Scott Herron, and his brother James Marks Scott, Jr., all of Montgomery, Alabama. Anderson was predeceased by his mother, Vivian Butler Scott, of Montgomery.

Anderson was born in September 1961, in Montgomery, Alabama. He attended the Montgomery Academy, Jefferson Davis High School, the Millbrook School of Millbrook, New York (Valedictorian), Davidson College (B.A., English Literature, 1984), Yale University (Master of Fine Art, 1987, Albers Scholar and Departmental Prize for Excellence), and Emory University (J.D., 1993).

Both attorney and artist, Anderson was a partner at the law firm of Fisher Phillips as well as a published and exhibited photographer. He lived a happy life full of long runs, weekend photographic jaunts to find the odd and interesting, and family trips to distant lands. He had great pride in his law practice and much love for those dear to him – children, wife, family, and large concentric and eccentric circles of friends.

Anderson’s photographic works are held in numerous private, corporate, and museum collections both great and small including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian, the High Museum, and The Museum of Modern Art. A monograph of his photographic work was published by the University of Chicago Press.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Sarah Cannon Fund at the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 23197, Oklahoma City, OK 73123, or at www.sarahcannonfund.org.

His funeral service and burial will be held at Grace Episcopal Church, 906 Pike Road, Pike Road, AL 36064 on Wednesday, January 15 at 2:00 p.m. Visitation to follow at the home of Jim Scott, 1704 Hillwood Drive, Montgomery, Alabama.

Published in the Montgomery Advertiser from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15, 2020

Husband, Father, Son, Friend, Sailor, & Adventurer After a long battle fighting cancer, Thomas Edward Hissam of Dallas, Texas and Wilmington, N.C. passed away on October 22nd at the age of 57. His strong will carried him through his last months, just as it carried him around the world throughout his lifetime.

Thomas was born on November 17th, 1961 in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Chagrin Falls, OH. He was the captain of his football team and a star wrestler at Kenston High School. He earned his Eagle Scout at the age of 16. Tom attended Davidson College where he was president of his fraternity and graduated with a BA in psychology.

At Davidson, he also played football and wrestled. Tom went on to attend the University of South Carolina earning a Master’s in International Business at the esteemed Darla Moore School of Business. Thomas spent a large majority of his adult life in Wilmington, NC however that never stopped him from traveling to multiple continents.

Fluent in five languages, he lived and worked in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Moscow, Provence, and Oslo. Tom was an accomplished offshore sailor, racer, and licensed captain who enjoyed spending time on the sea alongside his wife and fellow sailors. For anyone who knew him, he was happiest on the water – whether racing or cruising.

During his life, Tom sailed on the coasts of more than fifteen countries. One of his last adventures took him halfway across the Atlantic from South Africa to St. Helena (this, during a brief pause from chemotherapy.) Tom loved gardening and tended to use manual tools rather than power ones to create the beautiful spaces at his homes. Tom appreciated living life with others, hosting many dinners and parties with his wife, eating good food, and drinking even better wine. But no matter how busy he was, he put his family, who he loved deeply, first.

Tom was the owner of several Sam’s Hot Dog Stands in Wilmington, NC, and Salem, VA. He started his business with no prior experience yet no concerns! He was involved in running his business up until just a few days before he passed, still exhibiting the fighter he was throughout his illness.

Tom is survived by his wife Mary Piepenbrink of Dallas, TX and Wilmington, NC; his daughters Belle of Boone, NC and Rhett of Raleigh NC; his parents Margaret and Harold Hissam of Solon, OH; his stepsons Chanse Harrison of Asheville, NC and Clark Harrison, of Wilmington, NC; his sister Jennifer Jones and his brother-in-law David Jones of Bainbridge OH; his brother Tim Hissam and his sister-in-law Lucille Hissam of Pflugerville, Texas.

Tom had two nieces and a nephew: Lauren Jones King, Lydia Jones, and Phillip Hissam, and scores of loving cousins, aunts and uncles. And finally, he leaves behind his beloved dog Henry, who was his constant companion and best buddy.

One of Tom’s final feats was to swim in the Dallas Swim Across America event on September 14, 2019, raising awareness and funding for the fight against cancer.

Team Thomas Hissam is still accepting donations for next year’s event, in honor of Tom’s amazing life and amazing fight. https://www.swimacrossamerica.org/site/TR/OpenWater/Dallas?team_id=21267&pg=team&fr_id=5100

A celebration of Tom’s life will be held on November 16th with family and friends in Wilmington, NC, and he will be buried at sea.

Copyright, 2019, StarNews, All Rights Reserved.

Father. Husband. Brother. Son. Cyclist. Bassist. Uncle. Administrator. Friend.

Thomas Pafford, son of Tom and Barbara Pafford of Huntington, West Virginia, and longtime resident of Durham, North Carolina, was, above all, a Gentle Man.

Thomas moved slowly and deliberately in the world, and yet in his 56 years, managed to cover a lot of ground, and deeply touch many, many people across all walks of life.  He had a rare and carefully-developed capacity for creating space for people around him to just be themselves, and he leaves behind a large community of people who love and miss him.

An English major at Davidson College, Thomas was known by his friends to be a young man of considerable “existential angst,” and he continued both his love of grappling with great questions and his love of grappling with great literature throughout his life.  Moby Dick was his favorite novel, but his most constant source of reading material was the Book of Psalms, and many of his friends were exhorted to spend time with those same pages.

After several years experimenting with various jobs and careers, Thomas eventually found his niche as a Program Coordinator and Manager in the Anesthesiology Departments of Duke and the University of Miami, and — both in his work, as well as the rest of his life —  stood firmly and visibly for the creation of community across all potential dividing lines: race, gender, class, age, education.  Even the most casual glimpse of the friends and communities that gathered around him would show his success at forming and sustaining relationships that defied such potential divisions, and he leaves behind a community of colleagues who miss both his talents and his heart.

While working at Duke, Thomas met and fell in love with his life partner, Laura Collins, and their friendship and marriage transformed him.  Together they danced, camped, served as core community and committee members of their church, and — as foster parents  — dedicated themselves to providing a home to those who otherwise had none. They eventually wholeheartedly adopted four children: Robert, Liam, Lassha and Kieran, and inspired all who knew them with their simple, every-day brand of loving and living.

Thomas threw himself unreservedly into play with his children, a trait that was also enjoyed by his nieces, Sara and Alyssa — daughters of his sister Kathy — and all the other children (of all ages) who had the pleasure of knowing him.  He threw himself into other endeavors as well, always with an irresistible sense of delight and curiosity.  Both in Durham and in Miami — where the family lived for five years — Thomas dedicated himself to cycling teams, sharing in the mutual drive to support each other and push each other’s physical limits while playing full out on the long (and often hilly) roads with their cycles.  He was also a beloved local musician, playing with friends and worship community bands, singalongs, Boy Scout campfires, and most notably the Chapel Hill band Other Bright Colors in the late 1980s. All who heard him or played with him were clear that Bob Dylan was his most central influence.

Thomas passed away on October 26th, nine months after lung cancer was detected, but his heart, dedication and gentle spirit live on.