Graham Columbus Hobbs, Jr.

   Graham Columbus Hobbs, Jr., aged 91, passed away quietly at Elizabeth City Health and Rehab, formerly known as Winslow Memorial on September 24th, 2016. Mr. Hobbs was a lifetime resident of Corapeake, North Carolina and lived his long life on the family farm on Hobbs Lane before his health forced him to move to the facility.  Born in the dining room of the farm house of his father and mother in 1925, he was the youngest of five children. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Dorothy Byrum Hobbs, his parents, Eva Barnes Hobbs and Graham C. Hobbs Sr., his brother, Elmer Jarvis Hobbs, sisters, Conrad Hobbs Parish, and Jessie Hobbs Johnsen.  His only living sibling is Ella Thomas Hobbs Craig of Anchorage, Alaska where she lives with her three children and their families.

   Graham, Jr. was a young boy surrounded by the beauty and wildness of the Great Dismal Swamp, and learned early on to love to navigate the woods and waters and all it had to offer.  His stories of hunting for all kinds of wildlife he gladly provided for the dinner table were legendary, from the time he swam in the Folley Ditch with his buddies and cousins catching gunny sacks of snapping turtles or a bunch of bullfrogs. Later he trapped fur along the swamp before he went to Sunbury School, providing the money for his well tailored clothes and at least part of his first vehicle.  He hunted coveys of quail as expertly as anyone ever has. His father and grandparents, Andrew Jackson Hobbs and Rhodema Copeland depended on “Junior” as they called him to assist the farm workers almost fulltime during their lifetime and when WWII came the farm was being farmed by Graham and several farm workers while his father sold fertilizer during the height of the depression. This early responsibility instilled both the love of the land and what it meant to generations of his family and his knowledge of how much hard work and money it took to make it during those years. As a boy he cleared land with a mule and he became an excellent farmer, raising hogs, peanuts, corn, soy beans, and a few cattle in later years as well as excellent deerhounds and bird dogs.

   After his graduation from Sunbury High School, his farming and baseball were stopped in their tracks by WWII. He joined the Merchant Marines and traveled first to Norfolk and then to Sheep’s Head Bay, NY for basic training.  Those war years took him to Alabama and Louisiana before he headed to the North Atlantic and South America where he was on the day the war ended.  Graham told those stories so vividly of wartime but always modestly expressing his part in saving two fellow sailors in the Indian Ocean from drowning, and another harrowing night of manning a wheel while his freighter narrowly passed a huge mine in the North Atlantic on a moonlit night. He said his commanding officer asked him how he managed to do it and he responded “ I didn’t want to die and I held it the best I could”.  He was governed overall by the belief that he only wanted to get home to the farm and family and girl he loved.  Thankfully he did.

   He was a farmer for many years and hated to give it up when economics made that inevitable.  Later working over 25 years at the Newport News Ship Yard he retired and spent many happy years hunting deer and fishing the Pasquotank and Chowan Rivers with his son, Chuck and his grandson, Jeremy.  He loved the Outer Banks and could honestly catch fish when no one else could find one.  He and Dot loved Kitty Hawk and Rodanthe and camped and enjoyed the ocean where they had spent their honeymoon back in 1948. He loved to steam crabs and fry fish and then surf cast at dawn and dusk.  His gardening skills were legendary and he kept his father’s standards in his mind as he wielded a hoe. The garden bounty and fish and game he grew and cooked were shared with all his neighbors and co- workers as long as he lived at home and he taught his children his love of nature and cooking delicious food.

   He always said his greatest accomplishment in life were his marriage and children and grandchildren and spent much quality time camping and hunting and fishing. He could dance almost as well as his wife Dot and seeing them glide across the floor to the Glen Miller Band or Nat King Cole is etched in all the memories of grandchildren. Although he avoided a few dance and piano recitals whenever he could, he made time to attend their sporting events at school and give them the quality time that he always said made for “good children”. His plainspoken directness was part of his persona and mostly served him well. Perhaps his manner had been influenced by his love of the John Wayne movies he had memorized.

   He loved Joe Louis, Catfish Hunter, Willie Mays, and Michael Jordan, all equally and he passed on his love of sports to his children and grandchildren without question. His sports started with his own skills as a shortstop and point guard, to listening to the Saturday Night Fights on the radio back before they were on a television, to enjoying a Super Bowl game or a Final Four.  In the backyard battles he never let the children win and sailed that baseball over that plate or swished the basketball with ease and a good laugh. He trained many a good bird dog, especially Flash and Duke, and his lab, Liz and could throw up a nickel and hit it in the center with his trusty 22.

   In final years his battle with dementia was fought with such grace and kindness and humor that the last enduring lesson he left his family rests there.  He kept his humor right to the end even when the memories failed him, and his caretakers and roommates learned the wisdom and wit of a remarkable life well lived.

   He is survived by his daughter, Donna Hobbs Conner and her husband Michael, his son, Graham C. Hobbs, III (Chuck) and his wife Phyllis, all of Hobbs Lane, Corapeake, NC and his daughter, Gail Hobbs Page and her husband Daniel of Esmont, Va.  His grandchildren are Jeremy Andrew Conner of Seattle, Washington, and his wife Julie Tobiason and great-grandchildren Audrey and Warren.  His granddaughters are Amanda Catherine Conner of Portsmouth, Va., Meredith Ann Conner of Portsmouth, Va. and Jane Elizabeth Turney and husband Tony of Suffolk, Va.  His youngest grandson and namesake, Graham Carter Hobbs currently resides in Huntington , West Va. where he is assistant football coach for Marshall.

   A visitation with family and friends for the public will be at Miller Funeral Home in Gatesville, NC on Wednesday, the 28th from 6:30 til 8:00 p.m.  Subsequently the immediate family will scatter his ashes at the farm by a beech tree along side his wife and celebrate his life and lessons. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org/donate). Many thanks to the kindness of nurses and staff at Winslow’s who provided such care and love.

   Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.