GREENSBORO, NC — James Gaddy, 85, passed away at his home on Saturday, February 16, 2013.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, February 20, 1 pm at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church with Father Chris Davis officiating. Entombment with full military honors followed at Guilford Memorial Park.
Jim was born on August 14, 1927, in Oneonta, Alabama, one of thirteen children of Charles Marshall and Madeline Edwards Gaddy.
He enlisted in the US Navy before WWII and was passing through the Panama canal on the USS Chester, an Augusta-class cruiser, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His skipper, who had learned that he was underage, confronted Jim with the dilemma: "I can put you in the brig until your birthday, but this ship can't be spared to divert and put you ashore." The attack had left them one of a very few US heavy cruisers available in the Pacific theater to protect our remaining aircraft carriers. The alternative the captain offered was for Jim to "stow away" until his birthday. As a result, he saw action in many battles. A photo of Jim in uniform had a comment written on the back by a friend, "This guy has more [battle] stars than any other sailor in the navy!"
After the war, he worked for a time at Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a refrigeration engineer. (The University of Chicago ran an accelerated program for vets, to fill the need.)
Jim married three times: first, to Mary Helen Browning, around 1948. Together they have a son and a daughter.
In 1963 he married Maria Desch, reputedly a great beauty, whose German grandparents immigrated from Russia and settled in Kansas. Maria had no children before developing a brain cancer, described as "star tumors." She died in 1965, and has a double marker including Jim as "James J.", which is incorrect: he had no middle name. For Jim this is a cenotaph, as he is buried in North Carolina.
On July 8 1967, Jim married Melba McCormac. They moved to Greensboro in 1971 and formed M and J Development. He held both a North Carolina real estate broker's license and a contractor's license, and he had experience grading and terraforming with heavy equipment. Melba also held a real estate broker's license.
He was a member of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.
Jim was preceded in death by his wife Melba on January 25, 2013. He is survived by his daughters, Patti Gatewood of Stokesdale, NC, and Ann Bock of Cordova, Tennessee; a son, James Gaddy Jr. of Memphis, one brother, Cecil Patrick Gaddy of Phoenix; one sister, Mary Ruth Gaddy; nephew Patrick Gaddy (Cecil's son); six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to:
Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
2500 Summit Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27405
Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel assisted the Gaddy family.
----------
[~ e primary source:: 'Greensboro News & Record' (February 19, 2013)]
View Cenotaph Mount Calvary Cemetery. Name on headstone with wife Marie
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, February 20, 1 pm at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church with Father Chris Davis officiating. Entombment with full military honors followed at Guilford Memorial Park.
Jim was born on August 14, 1927, in Oneonta, Alabama, one of thirteen children of Charles Marshall and Madeline Edwards Gaddy.
He enlisted in the US Navy before WWII and was passing through the Panama canal on the USS Chester, an Augusta-class cruiser, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His skipper, who had learned that he was underage, confronted Jim with the dilemma: "I can put you in the brig until your birthday, but this ship can't be spared to divert and put you ashore." The attack had left them one of a very few US heavy cruisers available in the Pacific theater to protect our remaining aircraft carriers. The alternative the captain offered was for Jim to "stow away" until his birthday. As a result, he saw action in many battles. A photo of Jim in uniform had a comment written on the back by a friend, "This guy has more [battle] stars than any other sailor in the navy!"
After the war, he worked for a time at Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a refrigeration engineer. (The University of Chicago ran an accelerated program for vets, to fill the need.)
Jim married three times: first, to Mary Helen Browning, around 1948. Together they have a son and a daughter.
In 1963 he married Maria Desch, reputedly a great beauty, whose German grandparents immigrated from Russia and settled in Kansas. Maria had no children before developing a brain cancer, described as "star tumors." She died in 1965, and has a double marker including Jim as "James J.", which is incorrect: he had no middle name. For Jim this is a cenotaph, as he is buried in North Carolina.
On July 8 1967, Jim married Melba McCormac. They moved to Greensboro in 1971 and formed M and J Development. He held both a North Carolina real estate broker's license and a contractor's license, and he had experience grading and terraforming with heavy equipment. Melba also held a real estate broker's license.
He was a member of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.
Jim was preceded in death by his wife Melba on January 25, 2013. He is survived by his daughters, Patti Gatewood of Stokesdale, NC, and Ann Bock of Cordova, Tennessee; a son, James Gaddy Jr. of Memphis, one brother, Cecil Patrick Gaddy of Phoenix; one sister, Mary Ruth Gaddy; nephew Patrick Gaddy (Cecil's son); six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to:
Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
2500 Summit Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27405
Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel assisted the Gaddy family.
----------
[~ e primary source:: 'Greensboro News & Record' (February 19, 2013)]
View Cenotaph Mount Calvary Cemetery. Name on headstone with wife Marie
GREENSBORO, NC — James Gaddy, 85, passed away at his home on Saturday, February 16, 2013.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, February 20, 1 pm at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church with Father Chris Davis officiating. Entombment with full military honors followed at Guilford Memorial Park.
Jim was born on August 14, 1927, in Oneonta, Alabama, one of thirteen children of Charles Marshall and Madeline Edwards Gaddy.
He enlisted in the US Navy before WWII and was passing through the Panama canal on the USS Chester, an Augusta-class cruiser, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His skipper, who had learned that he was underage, confronted Jim with the dilemma: "I can put you in the brig until your birthday, but this ship can't be spared to divert and put you ashore." The attack had left them one of a very few US heavy cruisers available in the Pacific theater to protect our remaining aircraft carriers. The alternative the captain offered was for Jim to "stow away" until his birthday. As a result, he saw action in many battles. A photo of Jim in uniform had a comment written on the back by a friend, "This guy has more [battle] stars than any other sailor in the navy!"
After the war, he worked for a time at Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a refrigeration engineer. (The University of Chicago ran an accelerated program for vets, to fill the need.)
Jim married three times: first, to Mary Helen Browning, around 1948. Together they have a son and a daughter.
In 1963 he married Maria Desch, reputedly a great beauty, whose German grandparents immigrated from Russia and settled in Kansas. Maria had no children before developing a brain cancer, described as "star tumors." She died in 1965, and has a double marker including Jim as "James J.", which is incorrect: he had no middle name. For Jim this is a cenotaph, as he is buried in North Carolina.
On July 8 1967, Jim married Melba McCormac. They moved to Greensboro in 1971 and formed M and J Development. He held both a North Carolina real estate broker's license and a contractor's license, and he had experience grading and terraforming with heavy equipment. Melba also held a real estate broker's license.
He was a member of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.
Jim was preceded in death by his wife Melba on January 25, 2013. He is survived by his daughters, Patti Gatewood of Stokesdale, NC, and Ann Bock of Cordova, Tennessee; a son, James Gaddy Jr. of Memphis, one brother, Cecil Patrick Gaddy of Phoenix; one sister, Mary Ruth Gaddy; nephew Patrick Gaddy (Cecil's son); six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to:
Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
2500 Summit Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27405
Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel assisted the Gaddy family.
----------
[~ e primary source:: 'Greensboro News & Record' (February 19, 2013)]
View Cenotaph Mount Calvary Cemetery. Name on headstone with wife Marie
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, February 20, 1 pm at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church with Father Chris Davis officiating. Entombment with full military honors followed at Guilford Memorial Park.
Jim was born on August 14, 1927, in Oneonta, Alabama, one of thirteen children of Charles Marshall and Madeline Edwards Gaddy.
He enlisted in the US Navy before WWII and was passing through the Panama canal on the USS Chester, an Augusta-class cruiser, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His skipper, who had learned that he was underage, confronted Jim with the dilemma: "I can put you in the brig until your birthday, but this ship can't be spared to divert and put you ashore." The attack had left them one of a very few US heavy cruisers available in the Pacific theater to protect our remaining aircraft carriers. The alternative the captain offered was for Jim to "stow away" until his birthday. As a result, he saw action in many battles. A photo of Jim in uniform had a comment written on the back by a friend, "This guy has more [battle] stars than any other sailor in the navy!"
After the war, he worked for a time at Oak Ridge, Tennessee as a refrigeration engineer. (The University of Chicago ran an accelerated program for vets, to fill the need.)
Jim married three times: first, to Mary Helen Browning, around 1948. Together they have a son and a daughter.
In 1963 he married Maria Desch, reputedly a great beauty, whose German grandparents immigrated from Russia and settled in Kansas. Maria had no children before developing a brain cancer, described as "star tumors." She died in 1965, and has a double marker including Jim as "James J.", which is incorrect: he had no middle name. For Jim this is a cenotaph, as he is buried in North Carolina.
On July 8 1967, Jim married Melba McCormac. They moved to Greensboro in 1971 and formed M and J Development. He held both a North Carolina real estate broker's license and a contractor's license, and he had experience grading and terraforming with heavy equipment. Melba also held a real estate broker's license.
He was a member of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.
Jim was preceded in death by his wife Melba on January 25, 2013. He is survived by his daughters, Patti Gatewood of Stokesdale, NC, and Ann Bock of Cordova, Tennessee; a son, James Gaddy Jr. of Memphis, one brother, Cecil Patrick Gaddy of Phoenix; one sister, Mary Ruth Gaddy; nephew Patrick Gaddy (Cecil's son); six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to:
Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
2500 Summit Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27405
Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel assisted the Gaddy family.
----------
[~ e primary source:: 'Greensboro News & Record' (February 19, 2013)]
View Cenotaph Mount Calvary Cemetery. Name on headstone with wife Marie
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