Mr. Richard Dick Lindsey Wharton

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at First Presbyterian Church. The family will greet guests in the Virginia Gilmer Room at the church immediately following the service.

A native of Greensboro, Richard was the son of C. Richard Wharton, a prominent Greensboro attorney , and Lessie Lindsey Wharton, a leader in Greensboro musical circles. Mr. Wharton married Peggy Ann Watkins of Bluefield, West Virginia in 1956.

A graduate of the Darlington School in 1939 and The University of North Carolina in 1942, Mr. Wharton then studied at the Harvard University School of Business Administration followed by receiving his Juris Doctor in 1948 from Yale University. Richard was Phi Beta Kappa at UNC and a member of the Order of the Coif at Yale University School of Law. He served his country during World War II, first in the Army Corps of Engineers and then in the European Theatre from 1944-1946.

Professionally, Richard practiced law in Greensboro since 1948 until 1999 where his concentration was insurance law and estate planning and administration. He was a member of the American Bar Association, the North Carolina State Bar (where he served as councilor during 1967-69), and the North Carolina Bar Association (where he co-founded the Junior Bar Section). For the Greensboro Bar Association, Richard served both as Secretary and President and received that Bar Association’s Community Service Award in 2001. He was a founding Director of Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina and, as such, a member of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel.

Long active as an Elder at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, Richard served on many committees and served off and on for over 20 years as Clerk of the Session. He was a Church School teacher, Chair of the Board of Deacons, and Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Among his many active community involvements, Richard was president and a life Director of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina; Chair of the Board of Palmer Memorial Institute; Director and President of the Greensboro Civic Music Association; Chair of the local Board of the North Carolina Symphony Society; founding Director and Chair of the Greensboro Agency Transportation Express (G.A.T.E.); Director of the Greensboro Jaycees and of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce; founding Director and President of the Greensboro Estate Planning Council; Director and Secretary of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation; Director of the Shepherds Center of Greensboro; Director of the Triad Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation; and chairperson of the Friends of UNCG Libraries during 1991.

Wharton was the Administrator of the Kathleen Price and Joseph Bryan Family Foundation and served as Trustee and Executive Secretary from 1984-1988. He was in charge of a Mobile Meals team at First Presbyterian Church for a number of years, and a Director of United Services for Older Adults (now Senior Resources of Guilford) and served as its President in 1997-98. In addition he was Chair of the Child Care Ministry Advisory Board.

Richard Wharton read voraciously, anything from golf to pond fishing to philosophical writings to detective stories. He had a great respect for the English language and for its poetry. He will be remembered for his not infrequent Letters to the Editor, his wry sense of humor, his being a consistent opponent to racism and racists, his principled behavior, his unfaltering concern for the human condition, and his belief that while good and evil exist, inscrutably, life has meaning with a genuine moral imperative.

Survivors include his wife, Peggy Watkins Wharton, of the home; daughter Dr. Emily Wharton Piercefield and her husband, Doug, of Atlanta, GA; son, Scott Lindsey Wharton of Lantana, FL.; niece, Lynn Darnell Thompson; and nephew Robert Wharton Darnell and his wife Chris Greenlees.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 617 N. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401-2095 or to the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, 604 Meadow St., Greensboro, NC 27405-6600

On Line condolences can be made through www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.