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Dugan Aycock
Lexington
Dugan Aycock, 92, dean of golf professionals in the Carolinas, died March 23, 2001, at Lexington Memorial Hospital following a brief illness.
He was born April 8, 1908, the son of Joseph L. and Maggie Misenheimer Aycock of Charlotte. He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 50 years, Helen Phillips Aycock, whom he met while giving her mother, the late Ora Phillips, a golf lesson.
Although his profession took him to a number of other cities in his storied career, he spent most of his life at the Lexington Country Club. He got his start in golf as a caddie at the Charlotte Country Club and became a head professional while still a teen-ager. He later became a leader in the Professional Golfers Association of America both on the local, regional and national levels.
He served as president of the Carolinas PGA section for more than 15 years right after World War II, and is generally credited with leading it into a position of national prominence. He was an assistant pro at the Charlotte Country Club at age 17, was head pro at Badin and then opened the original Green Valley course in Greensboro in 1929. Although there were short periods of service at High Point, New Bern, Martinsville, Va., and Bassett, Va., Lexington was home base during most of his lifetime.
He served several terms as a national vice president of the PGA, was a member of its executive committee, served on the PGA’s Ryder Cup committee and officiated at the matches more than once. In 1957 he was named Golf Professional of the Year nationally. He is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame and the Carolinas PGA Hall of Fame.
As special services director of his Army unit in World War II, Sgt. Aycock smuggled golf equipment into North Africa and Italy in a shipment of kitchen fixtures. While there he directed the rebuilding of a golf course or two and organized an Army tournament that attracted 230 players. Among them were future greats Bobby Locke and Tommy Bolt. Locke tried his hand on the PGA Tour at his urging a few years later and they became lifelong friends.
He was a good player in his youth before settling in as a club professional. He was Sam Snead’s partner when Snead won his first pro tournament, the Cascades Open in Hot Springs, Va., in the late 1930s. He played in the first Greater Greensboro Open in 1938 and most of the rest until 1962, when he gave up playing to become 18th hole announcer for more than 25 years.
He was also widely recognized for his charitable endeavors. During the North Carolina polio epidemic in the late 1940s, he raised money for the cause by hitting a golf ball from Lexington to Thomasville, with people laying down donations to guess how many strokes it would take. When the late Skip Alexander, one of his proteges, was badly burned – almost killed – in an airplane crash in 1951, Aycock organized a North Carolina-Texas challenge match in Charlotte that raised $11,000 to help pay the medical bills. The list is almost endless. Some pro ill or injured, burned out of his shop, or stolen blind, Aycock & Co. came to the rescue in one way or another. The American Heart Association was his favorite charity.
He was an avid follower of Duke athletics, though he never attended college, and the devotion dates back to his boyhood days. When caddying one day to help his widowed mother pay the bills, he charmed the late James B. Duke out of a $5 tip and they became great friends. It was, of course, the Mr. Duke who endowed Duke University.
He was well known as a teacher and promoter of junior golf. He took special pride in the part he played in the career of Alexander, who started out as his assistant at the Lexington Country Club and then became a PGA tour winner and Ryder Cupper before his plane crash. He was also a member of the Rotary Club and active in many civic affairs.
Surviving are two sons, Anthony Wade Aycock of Atlanta, Ga., and William Taft Aycock Jr. and his wife, Alice Scheld, of Charleston, S.C.; a niece, Joyce Pallagut of Greensboro; three nephews, Leonard Wallace of Charlotte, Charles Ford of Schertz, Texas, and George Richards of Charlotte; and a number of great and great-great nieces and nephews.
Funeral will be held 11 a.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church of Lexington, of which he was a member, with burial at the Lexington City Cemetery. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Monday at Piedmont Funeral Home, 405 S. Main St., Lexington, and an hour before the service at the church.
Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or the charity of one’s choice.
Linda Hunt
South Bend, Ind.
Dr. Linda Margaret Hunt, 53, formerly of Denton, died March 22, 2001.
Funeral will be 3:30 p.m. Monday at Briggs Funeral Home Memorial Chapel, Denton. Visitation will be 4-5:30 tonight at the funeral home.
Roy Staton
Winston-Salem
Roy William Staton, 81, died March 23, 2001, at Forsyth Medical Center.
He was born Oct. 1, 1919, in Polk County, a son of Early Vance and Mattie Pace Staton. He retired from Duke Power with over 37 years of service. He was preceded in death by two sons, Jerry and Donald Staton; brothers Blain, Hoyt, Ray and Foy; and a sister Annie.
Surviving are his wife, Annie Mae Waters Staton, of the home; four daughters, Gail Staton Murray and husband, Albert, Martha Staton Eaton and husband, Sam, and Pamela Staton Gates, all of Winston-Salem, and Joyce Staton Perry and husband, Ricky, of Greensboro; five sons, Curtis Staton, Douglas Staton and Keith Staton, all of Winston-Salem, Allen Staton of Thomasville and Earl Staton of Greensboro; nine grandchildren, Linda Speer and Will Perry of Thomasville, David Hilton, Jon Gates, James and Jason Eaton, Andrew Staton and Kelly and Taylor Staton, all of Winston-Salem; and two sisters, Eunice Parker and Eular Sawyer.
Funeral service will be 12:30 p.m. Monday at Hayworth-Miller Silas Creek Funeral Home Chapel by the Rev. William Paul Sparks and the Rev. Steve Jarvis. Burial will be in Parklawn Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be 6-8 tonight at the funeral home.
Theresa Johnson
High Point
Mrs. Theresa Etheredge Johnson, 39, 913 Skeet Club Road, died March 21 2001, at High Point Regional Hospital. She had been in declining health two years.
A native of Washington, D.C., she was a daughter of Joseph Etheredge and Mary Baldwin Etheredge, who both preceded her in death. She graduated from Andrews High School and was pursuing studies in computer science at High Point University prior to failing health. She was of the Methodist faith.
Survivors include her husband, Calvin Johnson of the home; three daughters, Shonte, Norite, and Brianna Johnson, all of the home; four brothers, Andre Etheredge of Wilkesboro, Joseph Etheredge of Charlotte, Reginald Etheredge of Raleigh, and Kevin Etheredge of Greensboro; mother-in-law, Mrs. Janie Johnson of High Point; and a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, other in-laws and friends.
Funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday at Memorial United Methodist Church by the Rev. James Graves. Burial will follow at Carolina Biblical Gardens. Visitation will be 10:30 a.m. at the church prior to the funeral and other times at the residence. Haizlip Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Grady Rippey
High Point
Grady Elvin Rippey, 74, of Lowerywood Circle, died March 24, 2001, at High Point Regional Hospital following an illness.
He was born in Galax, Va., Dec. 23, 1927, a son of Raleigh and Alice Edwards Rippey. He retired from William Allen Company after working 17 years.
Survivors are his wife, Mary Newman Rippey of the home; a daughter, Charity Nicholson of Trinity; three brothers, Paul Rippey of Woodlawn, Va., Glenn Rippey of Pilot Mountain, and Rupert Rippey of Mt. Airy; two grandchildren, Lynn Bryant and Karrie Carden; two great-grandchildren, Bryant Carden and Lauren Bryant; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Harold C. Davis Funeral Home Chapel by the Rev. Jeff Dawkins. Visitation will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday at the funeral home and all other times at the residence, 6164 Lowerywood Circle, Trinity.
Elizabeth Rogers
High Point
Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, 101, died March 20, 2001, at High Point Care Center, where she had been a resident for five months.
Funeral will be today in Bennettsville, S.C.
Mildred Sowers
Lexington
Mildred Lucille Curry Sowers, 79, of Calvin Sowers Road, died at 6:10 p.m., March 23 2001.
Funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday at Bethesda United Methodist Church. Visitation will be 6 to 8 tonight at Davidson Funeral Home.
Howard Turner
Methuen, Ma
Turner, charter member of High Point chamber, dies
Howard T.B. Turner, 88, died March 23, 2001, at Holy Family Hospital.
While in High Point, he was a charter member of the High Point Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Toastmasters and the Civitans. He was on the Board of Trustees of Wesley Memorial Methodist Church.
Charles F. Dewhirst Family Funeral Homes, 80 Broadway, Methuen, Ma. is in charge of arrangements.
