of Merit from the Florida Medical Association and
was president of the Florida Orthopaedic Society. For
more than 30 years, he volunteered as a staff member at the Florida Elks Children’s Hospital. He served
for nine years with the Navy Reserve. Edwin
Francis Shewmake (’ 51, ’ 50 MA), 87, of
Tobaccoville; Sept. 17, 2008. Shewmake was head of
the art department at Salem College. He was active
in Winston-Salem’s arts community, teaching at community arts organizations. He was part of the group
that started the Winston-Salem Gallery of Fine Arts,
which became SECCA; served on the board of the
Arts Council; and was a founding member of the
artist cooperative Artworks Gallery. A painter, printmaker and sculptor, he exhibited with Artworks for
more than 20 years. In WWII, he served as a weather
observer in the South Pacific with the Army. Brant
R. Snavely Jr. (’ 57), 74, of Winston-Salem; Oct. 5,
2008. Snavely was a retired insurance executive. He
was district agent for Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance and general agent for National Life of
Vermont. At UNC, he was a member of Zeta Psi.
Donald Craig Starling (’ 57), 73, of Burlington; Oct.
27, 2008. He retired as assistant treasurer of Glen
Raven Mills, where he worked more than 30 years.
At his death, he was in his fifth year on the
Burlington City Council. Previously, he was chairman
of the Burlington Planning and Zoning Commission
for 25 years. At UNC, he was a member of Alpha Phi
Omega. Clyde Casey Stearns Jr. (’ 54), 76, of
Conover; Sept. 7, 2008. Stearns retired as a computer programmer for a number of area manufacturing
companies. Previously, he worked at the Conover
post office. A harmonica player since childhood, he
often performed at his church’s Sunday services. He
served in the Army after attending UNC. William
Louis Tadlock (’ 51), 79, of Elizabeth City; July 8,
2008. Tadlock was CEO and president of Bank of
America Credit Corp. He served with the Army in the
Korean War, served in the National Guard and was a
volunteer firefighter. Archie James Thornhill Jr.
(’ 55), 74, of Charlotte; Nov. 16, 2007. Thornhill
retired as personnel director of a furniture, electronics and appliance business. He was chairman of the
Civil Service Board, was a member of the American
Society of Personnel Administration and served in
the Coast Guard. F. Barry Wall (’ 53 AB), 77, of
Belgrade, Mont.; May 3, 2008. Wall, a lawyer, had a
career in international banking. He served in the Air
Force. At UNC, he belonged to Alpha Tau Omega and
was a member of the swim team that won NCAA All-America Collegiate honors in 1951, ’ 52 and ’ 53.
Dwayne Estes Walls (’ 58 ), 76, of Mount Pleasant,
S.C.; Sept. 18, 2008. Walls was a journalist for
The
Charlotte Observer in the ’60s. An investigative
reporter, he focused on voting fraud, poverty and the
Ku Klux Klan. Walls won awards for his writing and
was a three-time nominee for a Pulitzer Prize.
Although he left the paper in 1970, his focus always
was writing and teaching others to write. He wrote
The Chickenbone Special, about the migration of
young black people from the South to the North. His
second book, The Kidwells: A Family Odyssey, looked
at the fate of Southern Appalachian coal miners. He
was a writing coach for newspapers and was a lecturer in UNC’s School of Journalism, teaching writing
courses in the 1980s. He served in the Air Force in
the Korean War and established and edited a base
newspaper, The Thunderjet Express, which won high
ratings from the military. Later in the ’50s, he worked
for the Alumni Review and the UNC News Bureau.
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John Webb (’ 50), 82, of Wilson; Sept. 18, 2008.
Webb retired as a state Supreme Court justice in
1998. Previously, he served on the state’s Superior
Court and Court of Appeals. He practiced law in New
York, then worked at UNC’s Institute of Government
(now the School of Government). After he established a law practice in Wilson, Jim Hunt ’ 64 (LLBJD)
joined the firm before running for governor. In 1990,
Webb was elected vice president of the N.C. Bar
Association. In his years as a judge, he earned the
nickname the “Smiling Cobra” because he would be
gentle and smile at a defendant and then enter a
tough sentence. He served in the Navy in WWII and,
at UNC, belonged to Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Eta
Sigma and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Richard
Carlton Wilson (’ 51 MA, ’ 58 PhD), 83, of Pensacola,
Fla.; Aug. 1, 2008. Wilson was professor emeritus at
the University of West Florida, where he served as
director of the reading program. When he retired, the
reading center was named in his honor. He was the
author of numerous publications, co-founder and editor of The Florida Reading Quarterly and president of
the Florida Reading Association. Wilson served in the
Army in Europe as an infantry soldier and French
interpreter. He received the Combat Infantry Badge,
a Presidential Unit Citation and the Bronze Star.
Nash Nicks Winstead (’ 50), 83, of Raleigh; Oct. 18,
2008. Winstead was provost and vice chancellor for
academic affairs emeritus at N.C. State University. In
the early ’80s, he was acting chancellor for a year.
When he retired in 1990, he became professor of
plant pathology, the field in which he first worked at
N.C. State. He served on community and university
boards and received the African-American Heritage
Society Award and the Equity for Women Award, recognizing his accomplishments in the advancement of
women and minorities at the university. In WWII, he
served in the Army Air Force. John Martin Wolfe
Sr. (’ 51), 81, of Greensboro; Oct. 20, 2008. Wolfe
retired as a sales manager with Piedmont Natural
Gas Co. He was a member of the Charlotte and
Greensboro Lions Clubs for 50 years. In WWII, he
was in the Navy. Robert Lee Woodall (’ 51), 80, of
Charlotte; Aug. 30, 2008. Woodall was a supervisor
in the Mecklenburg County Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court. He was executive director of Boys
Town of North Carolina and was director of Big
Brothers and Big Sisters of Charlotte. He served in
the Army in WWII and, at UNC, belonged to Lambda
Chi Alpha and Pi Lambda Phi.
’ 60 Ann Hassinger Smith (’ 60 AB) of Raleigh
has been inducted into the Raleigh Hall
of Fame. She was recognized for 30
years of leadership and work to promote the arts,
including her role as founder of First Night Raleigh
and her efforts as honorary chair of the N.C.
Museum of Art’s 20th anniversary. Shelby Dean
Stephenson (’ 60 AB) of Benson has won the 2008
Bellday Poetry Prize for his collection of poems about
slaves, slave owners and slave owning in North Carolina, Family Matters: Homage to July, the Slave Girl.
He gave a reading at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh in
October. Stephenson is a professor of English at
UNC-Pembroke and editor of Pembroke Magazine.
■ obituaries
Maria Reid Baird (’ 60 MEd), 99, of Colfax; Sept. 29,
2008. Baird taught Latin and English in the N.C. public
school system for 45 years. She was organist for her
church. James Thomas Black (’ 60 AB), 74, of
Wilmington; Sept. 11, 2008. Black was president of
James Black and Associates. At UNC, he belonged to
Sigma Chi. Anne Torrey Coleman (’ 60 AB), 70, of
Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Oct. 2, 2008. Coleman was a
breeder, handler and exhibitor of cocker spaniels. At
UNC, she belonged to Alpha Gamma Delta. Harold
Crump (’ 60 MEd), 73, of Norwood; Aug. 2, 2008.
Crump was a retired educator with the Guilford County
and Chesterfield County, S.C., schools. John
Charles Ray (’ 60 AB), 70, of Fancy Gap, Va.; Sept. 8,
2008. Ray owned International Harvester dealerships
in High Point, Greensboro and Mount Airy. He was
past chairman of the American Truck Dealers and
the High Point Chamber of Commerce and a Paul
Harris fellow with Rotary International. He served in
the Air Force in Turkey and western Germany, as well
as Texas and South Carolina. At UNC, he belonged to
Chi Psi and Order of the Old Well and was a student
legislator. A member of AFROTC, he was cadet commander his senior year. August Shattuck (’ 60
MPH), 93, of Isleta, N.M.; Sept. 18, 2008. Shattuck
traveled as a health educator for the U.S. Indian
Health Service. He was a tribal affairs officer, serving
numerous Native American communities, and he
was appointed to the governor’s State Mental Health
Advisory Board. In retirement, he served on the
National Advisory Committee on Aging and the New
Mexico Council on Aging.
’ 61 Thomas Edward Orr (’ 61 ABEd) of Hendersonville has been named Man of the
Year by the Abraham Kuykendall Chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution for his
contribution to the community in theater. A retired
drama and English teacher, Orr served on the board
of directors at Flat Rock Playhouse, the Boys & Girls
Club and Blue Ridge Community College and, more
recently, has been involved in productions of his original plays at the restored Henderson County Courthouse and Museum.
■ obituaries
Patrick Henry Burns Jr. (’ 61), 70, of Raleigh; Sept.
19, 2008. Burns was active in the real estate business for more than 30 years. He was a graduate
instructor at the Dale Carnegie Sales Institute and an
instructor at Wake Technical Community College. He
was president of the board of directors for the March
of Dimes in Wake, Durham and Orange counties,
Little League football coach for 14 years,
Scoutmaster at the Methodist Home for Children in
Raleigh, where he raised funds to keep the Boys
Club camp open, chairman of the Raleigh Soap Box
Derby and co-chairman of the first Special Olympics
in Raleigh. He helped raise funds for Carter Stadium,
United Way and American Red Cross. He was twice
named International Senator by the Raleigh Jaycees,
only the third person in Raleigh to receive the award.
He served as campaign manager for several politicians. Otis LeVan Gardner (’ 61 MEd), 72, of High
Point; Sept. 7, 2008. Gardner retired from IBM as
part of its advisory system and became part-owner
of a tire and auto shop. Before his business career,
