Dr Herbert Grantham Oxendine, Sr

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Birth: Nov. 7, 1913 Robeson County North Carolina, USA Death: Dec. 14, 1966 Pembroke Robeson County North Carolina, USA

Dr. Oxendine was the eldest child of William Arthur and Maud Beulah Woodell Oxendine. He married Deborah Myrtle Dial.

In 1972, the Pembroke State University (now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke) Board of Trustees unanimously approved naming the Herbert G. Oxendine Science Building in his honor.

The following was taken from the Dec. 14, 1966 edition of THE ROBESONIAN:

Dr. Herbert Graham Oxendine, 53, professor of education and director of the summer program and the student teaching program at Pembroke State College, died suddenly this morning at his home here.

Several years ago he suffered a heart attack, and while the long list of his does not indicate it, he had been trying to restrict his schedule.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced except that the family requests that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to a memorial scholarship fund for the college, to be named for him. The body is at Locklear and Son Funeral home.

A native of the Buie area, he was a son of Mrs. Maude Woodell Oxendine and the late William Arthur Oxendine. Turning down a professional baseball offer, he attended McKendrick College in Illinois, Pembroke State and Western Carolina Teachers college, earning his B.A.

He returned to Robeson for a year as a teacher, and in 1940 entered the Air Force as a cadet. Six years later he was discharged as a major after serving in the South Pacific. He returned here to teach until 1950 when he used the GI Bill to enter Boston University and earn masters and doctors degrees in education, then began his career as professor at Pembroke State.

In his earliest years at the college he did triple duty as professor, manager of the book store and as coach of the girls basketball team.

In the First Baptist Church, he had been a deacon, a member of the building committee, Sunday school superintendetn and Training Union director, though not at the same time. He has held a number of offices in the Kiwanis Club and directed its youth activities which included sponsorship of the Babe Ruth League; last year he was instrumental in bringing district Babe Ruth play-offs to Pembroke and had made plans for the state play-off here this year. Also in sports, he was a prime mover in the current program to establish football at Pembroke High School.

In other activities with youth, he was one of the organizers of the Pembroke kindergarten and was active in the Child Welfare Association. Dr. and Mrs. Oxendine were at one time directors of the Odum Home and lived there for a while.

Community activities included directorship on Tri-County Community Action, Inc., and he has perenially headed drives either for Boy Scouts, Red Cross, Crippled Children, or Heart funds.

Dr. Locklear is survived by his wife, the former Deborah Dial who is a Pembroke State graduate and a teacher at Magnolia school. Other survivors include his mother; his sons, Richard Arthur and Herbert Grantham Oxendine, III; his daughters, Mirian Denise and Linda Ellen who is a student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Family links:

Parents:

• William Arthur Oxendine (1888 - 1962)
• Maud Beulah Woodell Oxendine (1892 - 1970)

Spouse:

• Deborah Myrtle Dial Sampson (1921 - 1994)*

Inscription:

NORTH CAROLINA MAJOR ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II

He lived worked and loved for others. His personal absence is a lesson to us all.

Burial: Oxendine Cemetery Robeson County North Carolina, USA

Created by: melanie