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Howard Russell Fincher, Concord, formerly of Salisbury, died Tuesday (Oct. 5, 1999) at NorthEast Medical Center, Concord.,

Lyerly Funeral Home is in charge.

Clark Brown Holt

DAVIDSON — Clark Brown Holt, 59, 5241 Albrook Drive, died Tuesday (Oct. 5, 1999) at his home.

Whitley’s Funeral Home, Kannapolis, is in charge.

Hazel L. Lyerly

EAST SPENCER — Hazel L. Lyerly, Deland, Fla., formerly of East Spencer, died Monday (Oct. 4, 1999) at Alliance Nursing Center, Deland, Fla.

Lyerly Funeral Home, Salisbury, is in charge.

William Stewart Neel

MOORESVILLE — William Stewart Neel, 76, Mooresville, died Monday (Oct. 4, 1999) at his home.

Born Nov. 25, 1922, in Mooresville, Mr. Neel was a son of the late Sam S. and Bonte Wiley Neel. A 1939 graduate of Mooresville High School and a 1943 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he studied at Midshipman’s School at Columbia University in New York and was commissioned in 1943.

As a lieutenant, he served on LST 542 and participated in the invasion on Normandy in 1944. After being discharged in 1946, he returned to the University of North Carolina and received his law degree there in 1949.

Mr. Neel opened a law office in Mooresville in 1950 and practiced as a partner in Neel and Randall firm until 1997. He was solicitor of Mooresville Recorders Court from 1952 -1962 and judge of that county from 1962-1970.

A member of the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce and Mooresville Kiwanis Club, he served as president of both organizations. He was a member and former chairman of the board of trustees of Lowrance Hospital and the Mooresville Library Board. He was also director and chairman of the board of Carolina First National Bank, which merged with NCNB in 1980, and director and chairman of the board of Mooresville Citizens Savings and Loan, which merged with BB&T in 1996.

Director of Alltel Carolina , he was a member of VFWPost 1072 and American Legion Post 66. A lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church, he served as a deacon, elder and clerk of the session.

He was also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association and a member and former president of the Iredell County Bar Association. In 1998, he was named a member of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Gov. James B. Hunt.

His first wife, Agnes Preston Neel, preceded him in death.

Survivors include wife Ruth Orders Greene Neel; daughter Frances Neel Cline, Charlotte; one grandchild; and one great-grandchild.

Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday, First Presbyterian Church, conducted by Dr. S. Edwin Lewis and Dr. Fred A. Coates. Burial, Glenwood Memorial Park.

Visitation: 6:30-8 tonight, Cavin Funeral Home.

Memorials: First Presbyterian Church, 249 W. McLelland Ave., Mooresville, N.C. 28115; Hospice of Mecklenburg/ Lincoln County, 1420 E. Seventh St., Charlotte, N.C. 28204; or Harris Hospice Unit, Presbyterian Hospital, P.O. Box 33549, Charlotte, N.C. 28233-3549.