and Salem at Burlington. Hoyt not only pastored these churches, but also participated with
the choirs, as well as in duets, trios, and quartets, some including his wife, daughter, and
son. While serving at Longhurst in Roxboro, Leona passed away on November 11, 1980.

Hoyt married Helen Falls on January 25, 1985, during his appointment at Salem
Church in Burlington. He and Helen also continued loving and serving the Lord after his
retirement in 1985. For almost a year they served Mt. Moriah in Clinton before Hoyt's health
began to decline.

Helen, who survives, has three children, Kay Falls Burgess, Buddy Falls, and Robin
Falls. Hoyt was blessed with several step-grandchildren and step-great grandchildren as well.

Following several years of declining health, Hoyt diecl at Duke Medical Center in
Durham on September 6, 1999. A memorial service was held at Bellemont UMC in
Burlington on September 8, 1999, conducted by the Reverend Jeff Roberts, pastor, and the
Reverend Dermont Reed.

Hoyt was truly an outdoors man. He loved to hunt and fish with his son and friends.
He always did his own yard work and loved to garden as long as he was able. Hoyt loved
the Lord Jesus and serving His Church. We heard Hoyt say many times that he loved to go





Memoirs 292

fishing, but he was also a fisher of men for the Lord. He would often ask, "1 want to know,
have you been caught yet?"

Hoyt loved the King James Bible. One of his favorite scriptures was 2 Corinthians 5:8;
And Lue believe he is absent from the body so he is present with the Lord. He also loved
First Thessalonians 4:14-18: We look forward to that dau when we will be caught up
together with those who have gone on before us. So shall we ever be with the Lord.

By Hoyt's Family



JESSE CLOMAN STATON, SR.
1923 - 1999

Jesse Cloman Staton was born in Morehead City on
February 25, 1923, son of Dr. Frank Staton and Jessie
Moore Staton. A decorated Marine in World War II, Jesse
earned a BS degree from Wake Forest College and a
Masters degree from East Carolina.

Marie Davis of Beaufort became his wife on October
18, 1946, and was his helpmate the rest of his life, a full
and equal partner in a Christian ministry spanning 42 -^^

years. They had four children: Reverend Jesse C. Staton, .^^

Jr. , husband of Emma; Carol, wife of Reverend Meal Salter; m^m

Rebecca, wife of Lee Brady of Ayden; and Martha, wife of
Calvin Dowty of Otway. Six grandchildren survive: Adam

Staton, Chris and Sarah Salter, Ashley and Rachel Brady, and Jessica Dowty. His sister,
Dora Cason, lives in Morehead City.

Jesse Staton was a gifted teacher at Morehead City High School, and after only three
years as the science teacher, had the yearbook dedicated to him. He and Marie were
popular young leaders in that seaside community.

While preparing for an extended career in school administration, his life was changed
forever by tne Lord's call to servant ministry. He was to lead the lost to Christ, pray late into
the night with the suffering and bereaved, bring God's Word to spiritually hungry
congregations, patch up broken families, as well as giving words of assurance and
encouragement to the faint.

Finishing his studies at Duke Divinity School, he entered the MC Conference in 1954,
then he and Marie began their ministry in Aurora. After four years, the family moved to St.
John Church in Kinston, an inner-city mission congregation. Here, his greatest Christian
work among the poor was accomplished. He and Marie even housed the homeless and the
troubled witn our own family in the huge, rambling, two-story parsonage in the racially
mixed neighborhood of East Kinston.

Jesse Staton served Friendship in Alamance County, Windsor, and Bethesda outside
Fremont. He liked to say his seven years as senior pastor of the seven-church Pamlico
Parish constituted 49 years of continuous service! He retired after serving in Stantonsburg,
where he became acquainted with distant family members.

He went home to Morehead City after retirement, as the chaplain at Carteret Hospital.
The old Staton family homeplace had stood across the street from the Morehead City
Hospital, where so many patients from Down East had come. Their relatives often boarded
in the home with his mother, "Miss Jessie," and his family. Many patients to whom he
ministered at the successor hospital, Carteret General, had themselves lodged, been fed and
nurtured alongside his own family, in their time of crisis.

Our entire family received grace and inspiration in his Christian ministry, but our most
cherished memories center in our home. He loved to tell stories and point out the lessons
we should learn from them. For him, everything in life held a lesson to be learned. With
wisdom and a special kind of humor, he and Marie brought their children and grandchildren
into responsible adulthood. A dynamic and insightful man, he looked into the neart of each
family member, seeing love, hope, possibility. Quiet members were given their chance to
shine, their warmth recognized and affirmed. He loved Marie more than anything and it
showed, thus setting the standard for fidelity and devotion that few could attain.

When Ellis Bedsworth began his memorial remarks by saying, "Jesse Staton could
recognize the truth, and he knew the truth, but he liked to 'embellish' the truth," we all
laughed through our tears. In that remark, Ellis gave the most accurate picture possible of
a man who brought both truth and joy to so many lives for so many years in the service of
Jesus Christ.



293 Memoirs

Jesse Staton entered the joy immortal on October 24, 1999. A Service of Death and
Resurrection was held at First CfMC in Morehead City and he was laid to rest at Bayview
Cemetery. Officiants were the Reverends Homer Morris and Sam Wynn. Reverend Ellis
Bedsworth delivered a stirring euloqy.

In his retirement speech at Durham in 1986, Jesse Staton had said simply, "The moon
is full; the wind is fair, the tide is high. I must sail on the flood." That October evening after
the funeral, we stood looking across the black waters of his beloved Gales Creek, where he
and his precious Marie had built and made their home. Bathed in the light of the full moon,
we understood that, yes, he had finally sailed "on the flood," as he said so many years
before.

We remember the words of King David, who, mourning the death of his son, said, "He
shall not return to me, but I shall go to him." In Christ, we live with the joyful anticipation
of that Reunion Day.

The Family



NORMAN ALFRED DESROSIERS
1924 - 1999

Dr. Norman Alfred Desrosiers was born August 6,
1924, in East Providence, Rl, to Frederick Israel and
Desneiges Charette Desrosiers, which was the beginning of
an amazingly productive life of one of God's great servants.

Because of his father's death during the Depression,
Norman was forced to drop out of school in the 9th grade
and go to work in a lace mill, beginning as a laborer
pushing carts, next repairing the huge mill machines, and
soon to actually designing the lace they manufactured.
Norman also became a minor league baseball pitcher
whom they called "Dizzy Desrosiers!'

At the onset of WWll he joined the Navy and was sent
to several training schools because they recognized his many gifts and talents. He passed
the entrance exam to the Naval Academy even without the high school education, but that
was not God's plan for this young man. He enrolled at DuKe Gniversity and, with many
academic honors, he received his undergraduate degree. He went on to Duke Divinity
School and became the first chaplain in tne NC State hospital system at John Gmstead
Hospital.

God still had other plans. Norman entered the UNC School of Medicine, his special
field being psychiatry, and it became his ministry from that time on. During medical school,
he was interim director of the Duke University chapel choir and the men s glee club.

He also was pastor of several Methodist churches in NC, along with his wife, Lorraine
Lueders Desrosiers (married September 11, 1943), and with their four sons - Bruce, Paul,
David, and Mark - built many boats, two airplanes (which he flew), an organ (which he
played), and eventually a wonderful house inButner.




Under the copyright "Anthem Pines," he composed nurrierous church anthems, and
)found poetry. _

NC at Greenville, Butner, and Black Mountain, and became for many years the director of



he wrote much profound poetry. He designed the three alcoholic rehabilitation centers in



the ARC in Butner. While there, he was the first recipient of the Norbert L. Kelly Award for
Distinguished Service in Alcoholism.

Maintaining a membership in the NC Conference, he moved to South Carolina, was
married on July 29, 1977, to Betty McGee, a church organist from Charleston, became
father to Kathleen and Charlie, was director of Bryan Psychiatric Hospital in Columbia, prior
to retirement from the NC Conference in 1989. He became a psychiatrist at the Lexington
Mental Health Center, SC, and then director of the Greenville Mental Health Center, SC, for
the last 10 years of his medical ministry, retiring at age 70.

God still wasn't through with him! He and Betty moved back to NC where they closely
shared their music ministry at First UMC of North Wilkesboro, and he retired in 1998 one
more time as minister of music emeritus.

"Dr. D" was called home on October 31, 1999 - not surprisingly, a Sunday! His
external achievements were certainly impressive, but in his eulogy. Dr. Sydnor Thompson
111 truly caught his spirit: "There was a driving force at work in Norman's life, a tremendously
creative intellect that envisioned extraordinarily complex projects and saw them through
from design to completion. He had a way of seeing the whole when those around him could



Memoirs 294

only see the parts. And so, Norman learned to fight effectively for what he believed in. He
knew what his patients needed and he became a fearless and powerful advocate for them.

But there was something underneath his prodigious abilities and creativity that we
cannot afford to neglect.. .There was in him that which simply gloried in life and in love.
There was that in him that worshipped at the throne of grace, tnat stood awe-struck before
the majesty of God and his salvation in Jesus Christ. Norman was a lover of God and truly
an instrument of God's healing grace. He wished more than anything that he could heal as
Jesus healed. As Norman leaves this world, we have clear and abundant evidence that God
used him as an instrument of healing among the most needy and most crippled of His
children. ..and again and again God used his incredible talents to bring hope to the hopeless
and healing to the afflicted."

His son, Charlie, said of his father: "He accomplished almost everything he put his
mind to. He was a leader: he led by example. He was a teacher: he taught the things he
knew about. He touched so many lives around him in so many ways. And throuqn his
legacy, through those whose lives ne changed, he will no doubt touch many more!

In the last weeks and months of Norman's life, the only communication he responded
to was music. His favorite hymn went, "When morning guilds the skies. My heart awaking
cries: May Jesus Christ be praised!" Also because of all of the music he wrote, 1 think so
often of these words by Fred Green: "When in our music God is glorified, and adoration
leaves no room for pride, it is as though the whole creation cried: Alleluia!" And to God be
the Glory!

Betty Desrosiers



LEWIS ALBERT DILLMAN
1920 - 1999

Lewis Albert Dillman was born February 24, 1920 in
Albuquerque, NM, and grew up in Texas and Illinois. His
mother was a great influence in his life and her desire was
for Lewis to love and serve Jesus Christ. While in his early
teens he gave his life to Jesus Christ and began a lifelong
service to Him.

After graduation from high school, he enrolled in
Ohio Bible College in Cincinnati, OH. World War II
interrupted his studies when he was drafted into the Army
Air Corps. He trained as an instructor on the A-26 fighter-
bomber, then transferred to Seymore Johnson Air Base in
Goldsboro.

Soon after arrival Lewis attended the Friends Church in Goldsboro. Someone
recognized his baritone voice and asked him to join their choir. He gladly accepted and
became active in other activities of the church including assisting the minister in reaching
the personnel on the base.

One Sunday morning a young lady, Dorothy Jones, was in the congregation and after
hearing him sing, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow," she remarked, "He's my kind of guy." He
also worked in the same building on the base as she did. They met that day and the
attraction was mutual. Ten months later they married and their love and devotion spanned
56 years.

Soon after his marriage on June 21, 1943, Lewis was sent overseas and he served in
England, France and Normandy. He also served as chaplain for his unit and while in
England helped those who lost everything to "buzz-bombs. At the close of the war, Lewis
and Dot moved to Illinois and he enrolled in Greenville College in Greenville, IL, as a
freshman but finished in two and one-half years. While in college he sang with the a
cappella choir, a quartet, and also pastored a church. Upon graduation, he attended
Evangelical and Reform Seminary in St. Louis, MO, and while in seminary there, he
pastored a church.

During these years away from her family and the South Dot began having health
problems. Lewis had promised her when they moved to Illinois, "If God opens the way, I'll
take you home." The way did open and they moved back to NC in 1951. Lewis never
looked back. His trust was in God and for the rest of his life NC also was his home.

Lewis felt the need to seek guidance and spiritual advice for the direction that his life
would take. He sought help from Reverend Wade Goldston. Wade introduced Lewis to the
New Bern District Superintendent who offered him Camp Glen Church (now St. Peter's) in




295 Memoirs

Morehead City. Lewis accepted and thus began 32 years as a Methodist minister in the NC
Conference. Wade became Lewis' lifelong spiritual advisor, a devoted and beloved friend.
Lewis also pastored Trenton, Garber, Pine Forest, St. Paul, Conway, Hebron, Scotland
Neck, and Hatteras charge.

He organized Garber GMC, named for the beloved and respected Bishop Paul Meff
Garber. When offered the opportunity, Lewis remarked, "It's the most exciting opportunity
a minister could hope for."

One of the joys of Lewis' ministry was working with children and youth. He organized
MYF groups and weekday sessions for children. While in Scotland Meek he directed a youth
handbell choir, and on special occasions, an adult handbell choir.

Lewis served on several commissions including Stewardship, Evangelism, and Town
and Country that worked to revitalize small and declining churches in rural areas and small
towns. He served as a mentor and tutor for schools, always seeking out the children's
talents and giving them encouragement. Lewis looked for opportunities to serve and help
those in his every community, never turning anyone down who came for spiritual or material
help.

At Annual Conference in 1985, when he retired, he used this time at the pulpit to pray,
graciously thanking God for the opportunity and privilege to serve in The UnitedMethodist
Church.

Lewis' greatest love was God, and then family - Dot, his wife; son, Eugene, and his
wife, Rena, of Louisburg; son, David, and his wife, Kancy, of Clinton; and his grandchildren,
Jake, Jenni, and Jeb. His devotion as a father is best expressed in a note his son put inside
a Father's Day gift. "Dear Dad, on this day I wish to say - may I be to my children one-half
the father you were to me - thanks for all the sacrifices you made to make sure I had a
chance - I love you."

Lewis loved woodworking and gardening. His skills were used to finish the inside of his
retirement home and build several pieces otfurniture and bookcases for the den and his
office. He was most proud of the baptismal font he built for Epworth GMC, in honor of his
first grandchild, Jacob Parker Dillman. Lewis loved to grow a garden and share the
abundance of vegetables with neighbors and friends. In Scotland Neck he also shared with
the hospital and nursing home.

On November 3, 1999, Lewis died peacefully after suffering a heart attack. He was
aware of his family's presence as he slipped away to be with God whom he loved and served
faithfully.

A service of tribute to his life and work was held at Pine Forest CIMC. Ministers leading
the service were the Reverends Larry Crane, Ralph Epps, Rex Brooks, and Elizabeth City
District Superintendent Eckie Lancaster. A tribute from Vernon Barnhill represented the
layrpen across the Conference. There were others in the congregation who stood and gave
a tribute to his life and work.

He was interred in Pine Forest GMC Cemetery.

His loving wife, Dot, and Family



VANCE CARLTON WAY
1930 - 1999

Reverend Vance Carlton Way was the son of the late
L. Claude Way and Kathleen Porter Way. He was born in
Henderson on December 29, 1930. He died on November
20, 1999, on Ocracoke Island, where he was serving the
Ocracoke GMC. He died doing what had become the very
source of his living, which was serving his Lord and Savior.
It appears that he passed away very quietly sometime
during his sleep.

He was married on November 25, 1965, to Marion
Cogill Way, and she preceded him in death, having died in
October, 31, 1997. They both are buried at Brown's
Chapel Cemetery at Henderson. They did not have any

children of their own, but along the way they had a number of nieces and nephews whom
they loved very much. They also had adopted several children by friendship throughout their
ministry.

During his years as a minister, Vance served a number of charges which were:
Milwaukee, Mt. Pleasant, Manns Harbor, Tyrell, Littleton, Woodland, and Ocracoke.




Memoirs 296

The funeral services were held at Ocracoke GMC, and were conducted by Reverend
Bobby Jordan and Dr. Belton Joyner. A graveside service was held at Brown's Chapel
Cemetery by Reverend Bobby Jordan.

Reverend Vance Way has one sister and a brother who now live in Florida. He had
attended school in Henderson, later enlisted in the army, and was honorably discharged.
He served faithfully in the NC Conference for 25 years.

Vance was more than a minister to many people during his ministry. Over the years
1 have come to know a number of them, and have come to love each of them as he did.
V/hen 1 entered the ministry in 1973, he and another minister were very instrumental in
keeping me in the ministry through their prayers and support. Vance and his wife, Marion,
through their friendship, "kind-of adopted my family, and particularly my youngest
daughter. Whenever we were close enougn they would often stop by and take her shopping
for the things that we could not afford for her at that time. They helped to put her through
school because they loved her that much - and their love was returned. This is only one
story that illustrates the kind of people that they were.

Nearly all of Annette's life, sne called them uncle Vance and Aunt Marion. After Marion
lost her lower leg from diabetes, Annette became her everything. Annette unpacked and
repacked for them at Woodland, she cleaned the house, and always cared for Marion when
Vance had to be away. They gave so much to others it was very easy to give to them in
return.

When my father died in 1998, Vance became my guide and mentor until he died. He
continued to support and pray for me and all my family throughout that year and the next.

These words are from Vance's sister-in-law, Ms. Betty Cobb. "Truly, Vance and Marion
Way were God-called. His ministry in eastern NC was one of healing and restoring churches.
He is missed by all that loved him."

In closing, let me say that his support for the Church was second to none. I remember
while serving one of his appointments, the church came up short that year and were not
going to finish paying out to the Conference. He borrowed the money to pay in full for the
church, and he said, 1 have never served where they did not pay in full, and 1 m not starting
now."

This is the way he was, the ever-faithful servant, Vance Carlton Way.

Bobby L Jordan



CHARLES KIVET ROBINSON
1929 - 1999

The Reverend Doctor Charles "Chuck" Kivet Robinson
was born in Los Angeles, CA, on April 12, 1929, the eldest
child of Albert Kivet and Ara Nita Kile Robinson, who
preceded him in death. Chuck had been diagnosed in
August with pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to the
liver. He died at home in Columbus, OH, four months later
on November 30, 1999.

His Celebration of Life Service occurred on December
4 at First GMC in Carmi, IL, the church where he and Mary
were married. Officiating were the Reverends Murriel R.
Nance, Richard E. Stewart, and Nicholas B. Showalter.
Interment is in the Liberty Cemetery in Burnt Prairie, IL.

The Robinson family lived in several Midwestern states during Chuck's grade school
years. His formative years were spent living in Phoenix, AZ. Chuck graduated in the top 10
of his class (of approximately 1000) at Phoenix Gnion High School in 1946. He graduated
valedictorian of his class at Arizona State Gniversity (Tempe, AZ), graduating with a BS in
Psychology in 1950. While a student at ASG he received: tne Kappa Delta Pi Award as the
outstanding ASG junior (1949); the Phelps Dodge Scholarship (1^49 & 1950); the Sidney
Mouer Scholarship Award at graduation for distinctive service and in recognition of his
attainment of an excellent GPA (obtaining only one B). Chuck received his BD degree in
1954 from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist Gniversity, Dallas, TX,
receiving the Bray Award in Hebrew and the Selecman Award in New Testament Greek.
Chuck received a Kearns Scholarship, a Dempster Scholarship and one of the initial James
B. Duke Fellowships for graduate study at Duke Gniversity; graduating from the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences of Duke Gniversity with a Ph.D in Religion in 1958; and




297 Memoirs

awarded Phi Beta Kappa membership for academic excellence (obtaining only one B) at
Duke.

He was baptized July 9, 1933, at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Williamsfield, IL;
was ordained a deacon in the North Texas Conference in 1953; ordained an elder in the
New York East Conference in 1960; was married to Muriel G. Mattern on July 13, 1963;
transferred to the NC Conference in 1973; then retired from the Conference in 1986.

Chuck's active ministry began at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, where he served
for three years as assistant professor of Theology, then joined the Duke Divinity School
faculty in 1961 , and served as an associate professor of Philosophical Theology for 24 years.
He was a vocal supporter of the civil rights movement on the Duke campus. He wrote
numerous journal articles during his career and was working on a book of publication until
limited by his illness.

On May 18, 1985, Chuck and the Reverend Mary Sue Whetstone were united in
marriage. Mary, an Elder in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, survives him. He also is
survived by son, Noel Kivet Robinson, and wife, Anna, living in Tucson, AZ; daughter,
Talitha Robinson D'ltalia, OD, and husband, Jeffrey, residing in West Chester, PA; sister,
Bonnie E. Robinson, living in North Hollywood, CA; and brother, the Reverend Theodore
K. Robinson, and wife, Marlyce, ministering in Cordova, NE.

Though he was regarded as a brilliant philosopher and a very deliberate scholar in his
primary interest of Christian theology; Chuck was a passionate and sensitive man in
exploring theology's major themes, especially tragedy and faith, who was able to evoke both
tears and joy from students in the span of an hour class. His students appreciated his ability
and even more so his obvious sincerity in the classroom making it apparent that he was a
genuinely good person and a man of real faith.

His professional and spiritual maturity came in a large degree from his study, his
teaching and his interaction with students and colleagues. The more Chuck studied, the
more he appreciated and loved the Bible, theology, Church history, sacraments and liturgy.
But there was much, much more to Chuck Robinson than the brilliant intellect and world
of academia. He was a real human being who called it like he saw it. Chuck never wanted
to pretend to be anything he wasn't.

There's the spirit of his sense of humor and his riotous laughter; the spirit of his smile;
the spirit of music; the spirit of adventure (of hot air balloon rides, of^ polar bears, of