Category: General

Herman Odell Best, age 99, died peacefully at his home on August 15, 2014.  Herman was born in Shelby, son of the late John M. Best and Anna Potts Best.

As a youth, he was active in his church and scouts, attaining the Eagle rank, organizing Cleveland County’s first Cub Scout Pack in 1938 and serving as a Cubmaster for several years.

Herman graduated from Shelby High School in 1932 where he was a member of the band and orchestra.  During the Depression, he attended Davidson College for two years, leaving to help in his father’s furniture store hoping to finish his degree later.

After his father died, he managed the store until he entered the Army in WWII serving in the Quartermaster Corp.  At the close of the war, when new furniture was scarce, Herman built a manufacturing plant which he continued to operate until selling it to the Drexel Corporation in 1962.  He then took time out to continue his college studies and obtained a degree from Limestone College.  After that, he studied and received both a Real Estate Broker’s and Contractor’s License and built numerous houses in the Shelby and Morganton areas.

In 1941, he met Margaret McInnis, who taught school in Lincolnton.  They were married in 1945. Herman was a member of First Baptist Church in Shelby, where he has served as Deacon, Men’s Sunday School teacher for over forty years and various committees.

He was active in the Christian Service Organization at Gardner Webb University and served as both President and Board Chairman of that group which raises scholarship funds to aid students studying for the ministry.  He was a former Kiwanian and member of the City Parks and Recreation Commission.  Herman loved the outdoors.  His hobbies included fishing, skiing, camping, sailing, horseback  riding, traveling, and history.

In addition to his parents, Herman is preceded in death by his son, David Best; a sister, Sara Best Dula Belvin; and a brother, John M. Best, Jr.

He is survived by his wife Margaret of 69 years; daughter, Jane Ann Best of Morganton; two grandchildren, John David Best of Roanoke Va., and Rachel Best of Charlotte; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Monday, August 18^, 2014 at 2:00 at the Webb Chapel of First Baptist Church, with the Rev. Tony Tench officiating.  Family will receive friends from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m in the chapel.  Burial will follow at Sunset Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 120 N. Lafayette St. Shelby, NC 28150 or Christian Service Organization-Gardner Webb University, 110 S. Main Street Boiling Springs NC 28017

Cecil M Burton Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the family of Herman Odell Best

Guest Registry is available at www.cecilmburtonfuneralhome.com

 

We have no additional information at the time.

Meredith Verne Davison born in the panhandle of Oklahoma at Shattuck, OK, Meredith lived his early years on a 100,000 acre cattle and buffalo ranch owned by his grandfather. He and his older sister, Barbara, enjoyed riding horses on the range with their father. While an elementary student, his family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, and later to Spartanburg, SC, where he finished high school at Spartanburg High. One of the things Meredith enjoyed immensely was flying single and twin-engine airplanes with his “brothers” Joe and Clyde Wells; he learned to fly right out of high school, at the University of Oklahoma. From there he came back to Spartanburg and was a pharmacist and part owner of the former Craft’s Drug Store chain. His career continued with a move to Charlotte where he was an assistant vice president of the Eckerd Drug Chain, before retiring into real estate and part-time pharmacy work. He also enjoyed playing golf, cribbage, and time with his children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Meredith married Carolyn Wells of Spartanburg, SC, on February 10, 1951, and together they had three children – Meredith, Jr., Ron, and Meda. Carolyn and Meredith were married for 55 years before Carolyn succumbed to the effects of Multiple Myeloma in 2006. Four years later, Meredith married the former Virginia Scruggs Beach, a childhood friend of Carolyn and Meredith’s. Meredith, who was 86, is survived by his wife Virginia of four years, three children – Meredith and Denise Davison, Ron and Lucy Davison, and Meda and Rick Dixon – eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, as well as many special friends and family, including Clyde and Helen Wells, Joe Williamson, Helen D. Wells, and Elizabeth Coggins. A memorial service honoring the life of Meredith will be held at Trinity Methodist Church 626 Norwood Street Spartanburg, SC on Monday, August 11 at 11am.

Charles Edward McAlpine, 88, died Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at Sentara Barco Nursing Center.  Born in Portsmouth, VA, he was the son of Louis and Aylse McAlpine and the widower of Lee Hedgepeth McAlpine.  He was a retired Parole and Probation Officer with the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Mr. McAlpine was a man of many interests and talents.  He was a writer of short stories, an artist skilled with paint and pencil, a photographer and a model railroader.  He was a member of Norfolk County Rifle Range and the Chesapeake Library Writers Club.

Mr. McAlpine is survived by two daughters, Cheryl G. Zimmer  and husband, Paul of Marietta, GA and Karen L. Swartz and husband, Adam of Virginia Beach, VA and  a son, C. Keith McAlpine and wife, Ginger of Moyock, NC;  a grandchild, Katie L. Becker and a host of nieces and nephews.  In addition to his wife and parents, he was predeceased by a sister, Winifred Early and a brother Robert McAlpine.

A private memorial service will be held at a later date   Twiford Funeral Home, Memorial Chapel, 405 E. Church Street, Elizabeth City, NC is serving the McAlpine family.  Online memorial condolences may be sent to the family at www.twifordfh.com.

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On Wednesday, March 19, 2014, we lost beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Samuel Gayle Riley III. Sam was born on October 8, 1939, in Raleigh, N.C., the only child of Samuel Gayle Riley Jr. and Janie Ruth Blalock Riley. His childhood and youth were in his words “idyllic,” thanks mostly to the strong foundation his admirable parents provided for him. He graduated from Needham Broughton High School in 1957, and then received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Davidson College in 1961, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication Research from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1962 and 1970, respectively.

He accepted a position at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1970; and in 1974, started a brand new journalism program at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, Ga., where he served as department head. He started in Virginia Tech’s Communication Department in 1981 and taught there full time for 33 years. He spent four of his years at Tech as head of the department. He taught and researched in the areas of magazine writing, opinion writing, communications law and ethics, and media institutions.

He wrote 19 books; numerous scholarly journal articles and conference papers; more than 1,000 reference book entries on Southern newspapers, Southern magazines, African-American newspaper columnists in the South, Will Rogers, and other media figures and topics; and established a blog, Riley’s Blog of Fame, which honored some his students’ best writing. Sam is considered the, or one of the, world’s leading authorities on Southern newspapers and Southern magazines. His last book was published in January of this year by Pocahontas Press. A deeply personal homage to his wonderful mother, Janie, this book is titled, Things My Southern Mother Used to Say: Yesteryear’s Expressions

From Piedmont N.C., and is a treasure for his family for generations to come. Beyond his many professional accomplishments, Sam’s greatest legacy is the joy he brought everyone who knew him. He was a “bon vivant and a raconteur,” a gentleman and a gentle man.

Sam Riley is survived by his wife, Rebecca Riley; son, Daniel Riley; daughter, Heather Ducote, her husband, Bryan Ducote, and their children, Jane, Mary, Jack, and Sam; former wife, Mary Elaine Riley; stepdaughter, Jennifer Rhue, her husband, Chris Rhue, and their daughter, Vivienne; stepdaughter, Cindy Nance, her husband, Greg Nance, and their children, Brady and Carter; and hundreds of relatives, friends, former and current students, and colleagues.

A memorial service will be held at McCoy Funeral Home at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 29, 2014. The family requests, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Communication Department at Virginia Tech. Donations may be mailed to Shanks Hall, Mail Code 0311, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, and may be payable to Communications Department, Virginia Tech, with “in memory of Sam Riley” noted on the message line.