James Eugene Athey

James Eugene Athey, 78, Salisbury, died Thursday (July 13, 2000) at Rowan Regional Medical Center.

Lyerly Funeral Home is in charge.

William Curtis Deese

MOORESVILLE — William Curtis Deese, 72, 129 Faith Road, died Thursday (July 13, 2000) at Hefner VA Medical Center, Salisbury.

Born Oct. 21, 1927, in Kershaw, S.C., Mr. Deese was a son of the late James and Lillie Mae Small Deese. He was a retired truck driver from McLean Trucking Co. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he was a Mason, Scottish Rite, Shriner.

Survivors include wife Ruth Parker Deese; son William C. Deese Jr., Mooresville; daughters Janice Beaty, Mount Holly, and Linda Capps and Sherry Deese, both of Charlotte; brother Floyd Deese, Charlotte; sisters Edna Harris, Charlotte, and Eva Eudy, Oakboro; and four grandchildren.

Services: Memorial, 11 a.m. Saturday, Neill Funeral Home Chapel, conducted by the Rev. Lawrence Ownbey.

Visitation: At the funeral home after the service.

Memorials: Mount Mourne Volunteer Fire Department, Mecklenburg Highway, Mount Mourne, N.C. 28123.

John Wayne Hunter

CHINA GROVE — John Wayne Hunter, 53, 104 N. Harris St., died Thursday (July 13, 2000) at Rowan Regional Medical Center, Salisbury.

Born April 18, 1947, in Mecklenburg County, Mr. Hunter, a son of the late Maude Laney and Will Hunter, was educated in the Mecklenburg County schools. A self-employed carpenter, he was a Baptist.

Survivors, in addition to his mother, include son Timothy Wayne Hunter, China Grove; daughter Lacey Renea Hunter, Charlotte; brothers Buddy Hunter, Charlotte, and Jimmy Hunter, Lucia; sister Mildred Watts, Mooresville; and three grandchildren.

Services: 3 p.m. Sunday, Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home Chapel, China Grove, conducted by the Rev. Bruce Graham. Burial, West Lawn Memorial Park.

Visitation: 7-9 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.

Emma Keller Lambert

ROCKWELL — Emma Keller Lambert, 93, died Thursday (July 13, 2000) at Rowan Regional Medical Center, Salisbury.

Born May 16, 1907, in Alexander County, Mrs. Lambert was a daughter of the late Anderson and Ida Pennell Keller. Educated in the Alexander County schools, she had retired from Cannon Mills Plant 7.

She was a member of Phaniels Baptist Church and Golden Circle Sunday school class.

Her husband, Ed Lambert, died in 1977.

Survivors include sons James C. and Leon Lambert, both of Rockwell, and Melvin P. Lambert, Raleigh; daughters Marie L. Overcash, China Grove, and Beatrice L. Eagle, Rockwell; brother John David Keller, Hiddenite; sister Viola Walker, China Grove; 11 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Saturday, Phaniels Baptist Church, conducted by the Rev. Michael Taylor, pastor, the Rev. Bruce Graham, pastor, Canaan Baptist Church, and the Rev. Dale Eagle. The body will be placed in the church at 10:30. Burial, church cemetery.

Visitation: 7-9 tonight, Powles Funeral Home. At other times the family will be at the home of James C. Lambert.

Memorials: Phaniels Baptist Church, 2685 Phaniels Church Road, Rockwell, N.C. 28138.

Elsie Mae Grubb Rimer

SPENCER — Elsie Mae Grubb Rimer, Spencer, died Thursday (July 13, 2000) at the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks, Salisbury.

Summersett Funeral Home is in charge.

Beulah Turner Smith

CORNELIUS — Beulah Turner Smith, 88, Smith Circle, died Tuesday (July 11, 2000) at Presbyterian Hospital, Charlotte.

Born April 19, 1912, in Salisbury, Mrs. Smith was a daughter of the late June Eulas and Ollie King Turner McGalliard. She graduated from Goldsboro High School in 1930, and was conferred a Normal College Diploma of Peace on May 31, 1932, at Junior College for Women in Raleigh.

Under the Department of Public Instruction for the State of North Carolina, she held a grammar grade teacher certificate Class C. In 1938, she graduated from the Training School for Nurses at Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Hospital of the Protestant in Pennsylvania.

She was a licensed registered nurse in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

She worked at Johnson County Hospital, Smithfield, prior to her marriage to Hugh Roy Smith. She later worked with her husband in the family business, Smith’s Flowers, Inc., Cornelius.

An active member of Mount Zion United Methodist Church since 1941, she was head of the children’s department from 1949-1951 and taught a Sunday school class for five-year olds.

She later was the head of the youth group department for six years, reinitiating the junior and senior United Methodist Youth groups. President of the United Methodist Women for one term, she was a former member of the Willing Workers Sunday school class and a member of the F.W. Kiker Sunday school class.

Mrs. Smith was a volunteer at the church’s clothes closet for many years and with the hot lunch program in Davidson. A frequent visitor to nursing homes, she established the third Girl Scout Troop in Cornelius, Troop 234, and was a representative on the Mecklenburg County Girl Scouts Council for eight years.

In the mid 70s, she returned to nursing at The Oaks at Huntersville until her 1991 retirement at the age of 79.

In 1982 she received the Senior Citizen of the Year award for outstanding contributions in community services in Cornelius.

She was preceded in death by her husband, who died died Aug. 4, 1979; son, Hugh Roy Smith Jr.; and foster parents Albert O. and “Dearie” Clement.

Survivors include children Albert Clement Smith and Rose Smith Chapman, both of Cornelius, and Martha Smith Croom, Mooresville; brother Wade McGalliard, Pikeville; sister Thelma Huffman, Connelly Springs; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Services: Graveside, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Mount Zion United Methodist Church cemetery, conducted by Dr. Terry Matthews.

Visitation: In the church parlor immediately after the service.

Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Huntersville, is in charge.

Memorials: Mount Zion United Methodist Church, 19600 Zion St., Cornelius, N.C. 28031.