Russell Lee Lanham
Russell was a marine, a husband, a father, a grandfather and stepfather. Russell was a truck driver by profession. He also had a chef’s license. Russell loved anything mechanical. He was an excellent wood worker and gardener. He could make anything grow including goldfish.
All of his family still miss him and will carry his memory in our hearts forever.
Norma LaRoque
My mother, my friend was the most giving person I knew. She sacrificed a lot of her time to help others. My mom is missed and loved.
Julie, Daughter
My mother was always such an incredible woman. A woman filled with strength, courage, beauty and above all unconditional love for the people around her. She is and will always be truly missed.
Kerry, Daughter
My mother was the most giving, loving and gracious woman I have had the privilege to know. She taught us how to care for everyone, everything and to see the beauty in life. I will miss her every moment in my life. I know that she is in God’s loving hands.
Cricket, Daughter
What can I say about my mother? She was the strongest, most caring and loving person I have known; always selfless and thinking of others. I will miss my best friend forever. I know her eyes could only be used for research because of the cancer. It is my hope that they helped someone some way. I know that’s what she would have wanted.
Peter, Son
My mother has been the single most important person in many people’s lives and my own for sure. Her legacy is one of love, giving and compassion. We miss her immensely and share in her wish that someone will benefit from her gift.
William, Son
I want to tell you about the most wonderful blue eyes – they belonged to my mother. They were unreal, and they were also like a window that went to this most loving and caring place where I could see love and concern. I only hope that somebody else gets to look at those same blue eyes and see what I have seen. Some day when I least expect it, I will look into those eyes again. I hope those eyes live on forever – those blue eyes of love and concern.
I love you, Mom, and miss you every day. I know that our Father has a true and loving daughter that he is so proud of by his side.
Barry, Son
Gerald DeLor LeFevre
November 18, 1935 – March 3, 2007
Gerald was raised on a farm in Beekmantown, NY near the Adirondack Mountains, with his parents, two sisters and three brothers. Both parents and oldest brother have already passed on before him. He was the youngest son and stayed home the longest with his parents to be helpful.
Gerald married his wife on November 13, 1971 with 35 happy years together. They raised one son and one daughter and were blessed with a daughter-in-law and son-in-law. They were also blessed with two granddaughters and one grandson. He had a big heart for life that he shared with family and friends. He loved life, was a very kind, caring, gentle, understanding, loving man to all who knew him. He will be greatly missed.
He worked for 28 years for Plattsburgh State University College in the state of New York as a grounds worker. He took pride in doing his job. He retired June 28, 1994 and moved to Dobson, NC where he lived for over 12 years until his death.
He was a hard worker and took very good care of his family. He loved to work and be outdoors. He has left a special legacy to us all – how important the little things in life are and to take a good look at your surroundings that God gave us all. You need Jesus in your life.
Stephen Leslie
Steve was a young 65-year-old husband, father, grandfather and friend to many when he was suddenly taken from us. Steve and I met in high school in 1958; he was my first date. We dated through the first three years of school, and we both met someone else who we eventually married.
Steve started working for PPG Industries and retired after forty years of employment. During his career he lived all over the United States. He and his wife raised two children, a son and a daughter. They had five grandchildren.
After 39 years of marriage Steve’s wife passed away. He returned to our hometown in Indiana for his 40th high school reunion. We ran into each other and our lives were reconnected in 2001. We just celebrated our sixth anniversary a few days before Steve passed away.
Steve had loved the game of golf since he was 10 years old, and he played at hundreds of courses over his lifetime. He met and played with several professional golfers throughout his golfing years. He loved all sports, but his favorite was basketball and the Indiana Hoosiers with Coach Bobby Knight. After moving to North Carolina in 2001, Wake Forest basketball became his team.
Steve loved the great outdoors and accomplished his long-time goal of leisurely travel across the United States. In 2006 we bought a motor home, and, along with our dog Maggie, we started in July and traveled until October. It was the trip of a lifetime and many beautiful memories were made.
Steve is loved by a wonderful family. He has left behind a loving wife, a son, a daughter and five grandchildren, two step-daughters and four step-grandchildren. He is greatly missed by all of us.
We are so thankful that Steve was able to donate to The North Carolina Eye Bank, and our hope is that the people who received his eyes will be able to see the beauty of the world and the good in people as Steve saw.
Matthew Lewis
Matthew was a very kind-hearted and sensitive young man. He loved helping other people, especially elderly people.
We live at the coast and he loved body-boarding and surfing. He loved to fish; he disliked tomatoes and iced tea.
Matt had a beautiful smile. We surely miss his pretty smile.
David Lindley
David Lindley was a gentle man. That’s what you noticed about him. He was quiet and unassuming, and so he might escape your notice altogether – if it were not so exceptional in this clamorous world to meet a quiet and gentle soul. His silent pleasant humility spoke more eloquently than the noisy wordiness of the rest of us. So he is not an easy man to forget. He was easy to like and easy to be with. His foibles and faults lay gently on him.
He was thoughtful, in the sense of careful reasoned thinking – when he was ill and weak and we were lugging an extra bed into the sanctuary of his room, he said in a whisper, “we might need to make a plan here” – which stopped us cold and made us laugh and put the bed back into storage in deference to his greater wisdom. He was thoughtful too in the sense of empathy for the needs of others. He apologized to me for the inconvenience of having to sit by his side when he was dying. I thanked him for that thought.
Nobody knows why David had to die before his time. We remember him for his quiet humor and loving kindness and his courage, and we are better for having known him.
By Joel McLawhorn, David’s brother-in-law
Edith Gray Tyndall Long
October 17, 1940 – August 27, 2007
Edith Long was received by God into Heaven on Monday, August 27, 2007 after a courageous fight of six months with cancer. The Lord Jesus was her greatest joy, and she influenced those around her with a willing heart and unwavering devotion. She was the finest Christian example we ever knew.
Edith attended Emmanuel College and graduated from East Carolina University. She taught school in the Burlington City School System for 30 years prior to her retirement. She was a member of Trinity Worship Center where she served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and member of the Finance Committee and Good Samaritan Committee.
In all her activities, none pleased her more than being a wife, a mother and a grandmother. She was marred to Donald Long in 1967, and they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on August 5, 2007. They had one child, a daughter Leigh Long Boyd. She loved spending time with her two grandchildren, Catherine Boyd and Jackson Boyd. Edith also enjoyed shopping, dining and spending time with her many friends from church and school.
Although we miss her terribly, we know that she is healthy, happy and no longer in pain now that she is in Heaven. She lived her life to help and take care of others. So, we are thankful that, even in death, she could help others through the gift of eye donation.
Aris Longordo
Aris Longordo was a unique and caring character with bright blue eyes and everyone who met her loved her! Her favorite color was purple and she loved wearing scarves and all of her jewelry. Many people knew Aris for her elaborate jewelry. Not to mention her glasses – she always had glasses on; sometimes they were purple, and sometimes they were red. You never knew with her!
She loved the mountains and had a great time with her husband on a cruise in Alaska. She also loved the beauty and scenery of water, but she hated to fly. Back in her earlier years, Aris and her husband, Frank traveled all around and saw many places. They went everywhere together and loved each other very much. They were married for 58 years. They had one child, Gary, and Aris was so extremely proud of him and all his talents and abilities. Not to mention that she thought of Gary’s wife, Chris, as her own daughter and loved her dearly.
She was a wonderful grandmother who spoiled her grandkids. Aris had two granddaughters, Jill and Jess. They had their own room at her house, but they never slept in it. Anytime the grandkids would visit, Aris always made them sleep on the floor in her bedroom. She would make them a comfy bed with lots and lots of blankets and pillows and gave them ice cream for dessert. She never let them sleep in their room growing up because she was too afraid that they would “escape” and fall in the nearby waterway.
Aris was very generous and was constantly giving people goodies from her family bakery. If she wasn’t visiting her sisters, she was always at the bakery telling the store girls what to do. And she could, because she herself was a great store girl back in the day! She came into the bakery industry at age 16, when she met Frank, and worked there for the rest of her life. After retiring from working with the customers, she stayed in the back and made boxes. Everyone who ever visited or worked at the bakery will remember Aris for wearing purple, or another bright color or animal print, wearing high heels, and sitting at her red chair folding boxes.
She loved seeing her granddaughters and enjoyed taking them out to lunch and making food for them. Her specialties were meatball soup, deviled eggs, potato salad, and egg salad. Yum! Even if you weren’t hungry, she would make you a plate of food, and expected you to eat it. In addition, Aris was known for having lots of singles in various places of her purse. Her purse was never organized and she was always losing things it in. If you were lucky, she would give you a few of her singles, or let you keep the change at lunch.
Aris also carried around pictures of her family in her gigantic purse and her favorite necklace had a picture of her two granddaughters in a heart. Her favorite bracelet, which was on her wrist all the time, had a picture of her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. She was so proud of her family and we all loved her so much!
Aris was a shopaholic, but always made time for her extended family, too. She enjoyed driving to various parts of North Carolina to spend time with her sisters, nieces, and nephews. Aris liked Ray Price and Andrea Bocelli and probably would listen to For the Good Times or Time to Say Goodbye as she drove to visit her relatives. She was a fun lady, and sometimes she would even entertain you with her rendition of opera.
Every time she went on vacation, she always thought of others and brought back presents, no matter how big or small, for everyone – her family and her employees. Aris was also a huge fan of Estee Lauder and every year, all she ever asked for was Youth Dew. And every year she got it! She loved it.
We all miss “Grams” (as Jill and Jess call her) very much and love her, but know she is in a better place and is no longer in pain or suffering.
