WILMINGTON — Mack L. “Linwood” Thorpe Sr., 86, of Middle Sound Loop Road, passed peacefully into heaven Wednesday, July 31, 2019, at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice following a short illness.
Born Oct. 18, 1932, at the family home place and farm in Brunswick County, he lived and worked from his home on Middle Sound since 1959.
He was a 1952 graduate of New Hanover High School, starter on the 1951 Wild Cat State Champion Football Team and attended East Carolina Teachers College and Elon College on football scholarship. Following college, he worked at the Atlantic Coast Line Rail Road as an apprentice in the carpentry shop. After a short tenure with Carolina Power and Light, he was self-employed as a shipwright, carpenter and master craftsman working many years at Harrelson Marina, now Anchors Bend, and other area marinas.
His passion was painting, woodcarving, sculpting and model ship building. His art was featured twice in the Wilmington Star News highlighting his many talents as a local craftsman and artist. Linwood was a longtime member of Ogden Baptist Church, served many years as an assistant scout master of Boy Scout Troop 237 of Ogden and member of Scotts Hill Hunting Club. A lifelong fisherman and outdoorsman, he was a hunter of rabbit, fox, bear and deer, always with a trusted hound by his side.
Linwood was preceded in death by his parents, Mack Duffy Thorpe and Maggie Hester Thorpe; brother, James Lawrence “Jim” Thorpe; and niece, Allison Faye Thorpe.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Elizabeth Carol “Libby” Morse Thorpe; son, Mack Linwood “Buddy” Thorpe Jr. (Pam) of Pittsboro; granddaughters, Amy Carol Thorpe Davis (Greyson) of Raleigh and Julie Elizabeth Thorpe Jones (Kevin) of Charlotte; step-grandsons, Tony Huelsman (Leigh) of Franklinton and C.J. Huelsman (Kate) of Charlotte; niece, Wanda Elizabeth Thorpe of Wilmington; and 10 great-grandchildren, ages 9 months to 9 years old.
The family extends its deepest gratitude to the caring medical staff at New Hanover Memorial Hospital and Lower Cape Fear Hospice. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Ogden Baptist Church and Lower Cape Fear Hospice.
A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 4, at Sea Lawn Memorial Park on Highway 17 N., Hampstead. The family will receive friends graveside following the service and later at the home.
“Under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you ‘grave for me; Here he lies where he long to be, home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Share online condolences with the family at Andrews Mortuary & Crematory.
