Category: 1990

Thomas Ross Tolbert, M.D., 54, of Franklin, North Carolina, died peacefully on December 31, 2021, after a five year struggle with melanoma.

Tom was born on October 3, 1967, in Atlanta, Georgia to Julian Hudson Tolbert and Helen Ross Tolbert. He attended Sarah Smith Elementary School and Sutton Middle School. He entered The Westminster Schools in ninth grade where he excelled academically and finished as a National Merit Scholar. He also participated in various extra-curricular activities including the varsity soccer team, musicals, and the Westminster Chorale. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1985. After graduating from Westminster in 1986, he went on to study at Davidson College where he majored in math as well as completing the pre-med requirements, helped reinstate the Kappa Sigma chapter on campus, sang in the Davidson Chorale, and was a North Carolina Fellow. He graduated Cum Laude in 1990 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

After spending a gap year delivering for Domino’s and working at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, Tom attended the Medical College of Georgia graduating with honors in 1994. He did his internal medicine residency at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, serving for an additional year as Chief Medical Resident.

In 1999, he began working as a primary care physician at the Lexington, Kentucky VA Medical Center. While there, he trained medical students and residents as well as serving in various capacities with informatics programming.

In February 2014, he began working at the Franklin, North Carolina Community Based Outpatient Clinic of the Charles George VA in Asheville where he remained a physician until his passing.

On December 27, 1993, he married Laurie Frances Crawford at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. They were blessed with five children born between 1997 and 2009. Dedicated to his family, Tom worked with his wife Laurie to homeschool their children.

Tom loved activities with his family including singing, gardening, cooking, volunteering with course decoration for both the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and the World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park, raising livestock, building small construction projects, and hiking. He also had a lifelong love of road trips, first with his college friends and later with his family.

Tom grew up at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta where he was active in the choir and youth group and participated in a number of mission trips. He and Laurie were members of Second Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and for years Tom led family worship in the home. In 2015, he and the family began worshiping at Mountain Grove Baptist Church in Franklin, North Carolina where he led Bible studies and participated in worship.

Tom is preceded in death by his father and is survived by his mother, Helen Ross Tolbert, of Atlanta his wife of 28 years, Laurie Crawford Tolbert, and their children Griffin Ross Tolbert, Thomas Jackson Tolbert, Rachel Hilsman Tolbert, Benjamin Llewellyn Tolbert, and Bonnie Frances Tolbert, all of Franklin, North Carolina. He is also survived his brother Julian Hudson Tolbert (Jolene) of York, Pennsylvania, his aunt Susan Ross Sawyer of Atlanta, his cousins Cindy Sawyer Mollard (Roland) and Cathy Sawyer Rice (Scott), his mother-in-law Mabel Griffin Kichline, and numerous nieces and nephews.

There will be a private family graveside service at Arlington Memorial Park on Friday, January 7, 2022, followed by a memorial service at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta, at three o’clock. Masks will be required and social distancing is encouraged. There will also be a Celebration of Live scheduled for a later date in Franklin, NC.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Mountain Grove Baptist Church, P. O. Box 1772, Franklin, NC 28744; Water Mission, watermission.org; YMEN, ymenchicago.com; or Answers in Genesis, answersingenesis.org.

Moffitt Family Funeral Care is honored to serve Dr. Tolbert’s family.

Dr. Raymond Howard Thornton of Yorktown Heights, New York, passed peacefully on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

Ray was the son of Howard R. and Kathryn J. Thornton. He graduated from PPHS in 1986 as Class President and Co-Valedictorian and went on to pursue three degrees in piano performance from the prestigious The Julliard School in NYC. While completing his DMA in piano performance, he completed coursework and was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 

From there, he completed his residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in interventional radiology specializing on diseases of the liver at UCSF. His first physician appointment was at The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he helped numerous patients, guided residents and fellows, handled quality assurance issues, wrote radiology board questions, and presented papers for the NIH in Washington, DC, Japan and various other places. He also taught and practiced at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and most recently, Cape Cod Hospital. 

Ray is preceded in death by his sweet father, special “Granny” Josephine Dean, and his paternal grandparents (one of whom he was named), and several uncles, aunts, cousins, and close friend, Dr. William O’Byrne.

He is survived by his loving mother and his precious partner of 21 years, John “Chip” Holmes with whom he made his life, along with their two fur babies, Victoria and Tucker.

He is also survived by his “little sister” Dr. Georgia (Dave) Thornton and special niece, “Ray’s Katie,” Dr. Kathryn B. who is following in his footsteps; brother, Donald (Julie), nephew, Aaron (Stephanie, Abigail, Bryce, Carly), and niece, Kristen. 

He is also survived by a special uncle, Gerald  “Biggie”  Thornton, and aunt, Evalee McKinney, as well as loving cousins and a multitude of great friends and colleagues who will miss him dearly. 

Ray enjoyed life—music, reading, gardening– and he lived it to its fullest. It is the family’s wish that all who knew and loved Ray would advocate for better diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease and better mental health care of all those working in medicine.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to “The Benefit Fund in Memory of Ray Thornton” at People’s Bank, 421 Main Street, Point Pleasant, WV 25550 sponsored by the PPHS Class of 1986. 

Private graveside services will be held at a later date. 

Arrangements are under the direction of Wilcoxen Funeral Home in Point Pleasant. 

Condolences may be expressed to the family and memories may be shared by visiting www.wilcoxenfuneralhome.com.

The world was made better by the addition of Katherine Ann Cameron (nee MacDonald) on October 19, 1968, in Washington DC. Born to, and survived by, Douglas Edward MacDonald and Elsa Blanca MacDonald (nee D’Auf der Maur), Katherine will also challenge her husband Michael, her two children, Atticus and Audrey, family, friends, colleagues, and students to honor her memory.

Katherine spent her life pursuing knowledge and her career sharing that pursuit with us. She had an amazing education at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, Davidson College, UCLA, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland before becoming a tenured professor of psychology at Coppin State University (go Eagles) where she taught for the past 11 years. She was much loved and much respected by students, colleagues, and coaches.

Katherine was an avid fisherwoman, outdoorswoman, Girl Scout troop leader and world traveler who delighted in the wilderness and spent her summers on Whitehead Island NB and Lake Temagami ON with her family and friends. She loved to swim, kayak, ski and lounge.

Katherine died peacefully at home in Baltimore on December 31, 2019 after a short, heroic struggle with cancer.

She will be piped home at The Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park on Sunday, January 12 at 1 PM.

Donations in Katherine’s memory and in lieu of flowers may be made to the Elijah Cummings Youth Project at ecyp.org.

An honest human here lies at rest,

As e’er God with Their image blest:

The friend of man, the friend of truth;

The friend of age, and guide of youth:

Few hearts like hers, with virtue warm’d,

Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:

If there’s another world, she lives in bliss;

If there is none, she made the best of this.

Adapted from “Epitaph On My Own Friend” by Robert Burns.

Published in Baltimore Sun on Jan. 4, 2020

Melissa “Missy” Terry Fuhrman, age 50, of Norwalk, IA (formerly of Charlotte, North Carolina) passed away unexpectedly on Friday, September 28, 2018, at her home.

A visitation with Melissa’s family will be 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, October 4th at O’Leary Funeral Services in Norwalk, Iowa.  Broyles-Shrewsbury Funeral Home, 111 Market Street, West Virginia 24963 in Peterstown, WV will be handling services there with burial taking place in the Terry Family Section at Peterstown Cemetery in Giles County, VA.  West Virginia arrangements will be posted here as they become available.

Melissa Anne, the daughter of James J. Terry, Jr. and Anne H. (nee: Hamilton) Terry, was born on February 25, 1968, in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She followed her grandfather and father’s footsteps attending Davidson College in Davidson, N.C.,  earning her bachelor’s degree.  She earned her teaching certification at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C.

During her career she worked for the Boy Scouts of America, as an elementary school teacher, as an administrative assistant at Wachovia Bank and Des Moines University Osteopathic College; and most recently she started to work as a daycare provider at Crossroads Kids Preschool and Early Learning Center in Norwalk.

Melissa married the love of her life, John Richard Fuhrman, on September 26, 2009 at Luxor Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, NV.  Together they made their home in Norwalk and enjoyed spending time watching movies, dining out, and their 90lbs. dog, Max a Dachshund-Labrador mix.

She is survived by her loving husband, John Fuhrman of Norwalk; her mother, Anne H. Terry of Colleyville, TX; a brother, James Terry (wife, Lisa) of Noblesville, IN and their sons, Andrew and Christopher; a sister-in-law, Gina Fuhrman Thomas of Norwalk and her son, David Thomas; and host of aunts, uncles, cousins and several good friends.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents; her father, James “Jim” Terry, Jr. whom passed away on September 9, 2016; and her beloved Maggie, a Catahoula leopard dog, who will be buried with her.

For on-line services, condolences and to send flowers in Norwalk click the “send tributes/flowers” tab on this screen or call O’Leary’s Flowers in Norwalk at (515) 981-0700.

Alyssa “Aly” Kendall, 49, died peacefully on March 28th surrounded by close family and friends.

Aly endeared herself to medical communities near and far, having been treated for cancer over the last 10 years at UVA, Moore Cancer Center in San Diego, UC Davis, as well as Tahoe Forest Hospital/Cancer Center.

By the end of each nursing shift during her many hospital stays, Aly invariably knew her nurse’s life story.

A career educator and fierce Scrabble wordsmith born in Maryland and educated at Davidson College (BA) & Vanderbilt University (MA), Aly came to Truckee in 2009 to teach Spanish. Head of Lake Tahoe School Ruth Glass hired Aly in 2014 to run the school’s library.

Lake Tahoe School teachers who brought their students to library story time described Aly as “magical” for her spellbinding reading of the books she had selected for the school library. Here in Truckee, the medical community came to know her as the patient who could always manage to smile through the pain, explain details of her illness as articulately and thoroughly as a physician, and repeatedly rally back to better health against all odds.

Aly is survived by her son, Casey Jobe; husband, Peyton Jobe; parents, Chuck and Verona Kendall; sister, Ashley Kendall; and the family pet, Sonny, who Aly adopted after organizing a student volunteer effort at the Truckee Humane Society.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to be made to the ACPMP Research Foundation at URL https://paddlechallenge.acpmp.org/campaigns/245.