Barry Grant Hitchner Sr.

The day dawned sad and gray, but the sun peeked out by mid-afternoon, just as our beloved Barry – husband, Daddy, Pop, Pop-Pop and friend – was ending his earthly journey and moving on to a better place, of joy, peace and no pain.

Barry Grant Hitchner, Sr., 74, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on June 30, 2016 at Carolinas Medical Center – Main, after a courageous year-long battle with cancer.

Barry is now with Uncle Orville and Aunt Reba, Grannie Hurley, Pa-Pa, Mom-Mom and Norman. And then there’s George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Elvis and, last but not least, Dale Earnhardt. His favorite NASCAR driver beat him to the finish line!

A Celebration of Life for Barry will be held at 12 noon on Saturday, July 23, at McEwen Funeral Service – Pineville Chapel, 10500 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28210. A visitation and reception will be held immediately following the service, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The burial service will be private.

Described as a “courtly Southern gentleman,” Barry had a slow Southern drawl and a love of stock-car racing and country music. You would think when you met him that he had never even set foot north of the Mason-Dixon Line. But he actually was born August 23, 1941, in Philadelphia, the youngest of five children of Alton Jenkins Hitchner and Susannah Ott Barracliff. He was raised in Bridgeton, NJ, by his uncle and aunt, Orville and Rebecca Barracliff. After graduating from Bridgeton High School in 1959, he came south for college, graduating from Pfeiffer College in 1963 with a bachelor’s of science degree and an accounting major.

His “Southernization” began with the basics in the ‘60s. He had asked what a “grit” was. His new rural Southern relatives informed him there was no such thing as a “grit,” only “grits.” He also asked what “okras” were. Patiently, he was told, “it’s okra.”

After college, he began what would become a very successful career as a CPA, spanning over 50 years. He joined the public accounting firm of Ernst and Ernst in 1963. In 1969 he became a financial executive for a furniture company in Hickory. He returned to Charlotte in the ‘70s to join a local accounting firm, before partnering to establish the firm of Hitchner Whitt & Co., PA. Prior to his recent retirement, he had his own accounting firm for several years before merging it into J. Ronald Martin, PA. Barry’s calmness, patience, dry wit, willingness to listen and financial expertise helped hundreds of clients survive the stresses of many tax seasons.

His first job was as a child working in his aunt and uncle’s corner store in New Jersey. Barry was a self-made man, pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, to become a successful businessman. But he never let business get in the way of his being who he was as a man: patient, kind, soft-spoken, willing to help a friend in need and respectful of everyone.

Barry was a member of the Charlotte Southern Lions Club for almost 41 years, serving as an officer for some 37 years (treasurer, vice president, president, past president and bulletin editor). He was treasurer from 1989 up until his death. He also received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award in 1991-92 and the Jack Stickley Fellow Award in 2001-02.

Barry’s loves, in addition to his family and friends, were stock-car racing, country music, playing chess, shooting pool, Phillies baseball, filet mignon, vacations in the Caribbean and that sweet 1957 Thunderbird convertible he spent years restoring.

He is survived by a sister, Betty Jean Hitchner Taylor of Moorestown, NJ; his wife, Janet Hurley Kopsch Hitchner; his son, Barry Grant Hitchner, Jr., (Jennifer) of Mooresville, and grandsons, Jackson Falls Hitchner and Greyson Ross Hitchner; his daughter, Kelly Lee Hitchner Wilson (Wes Busby) of Atlanta, GA; stepsons, Brian Gregory Kopsch (Mary Beth Fitts) of Chapel Hill and David C. Kopsch (Nieves Sanchez-Perez) of Marietta, GA, and grandchildren, David Kopsch-Sanchez, Carmen Kopsch-Sanchez and Vivian Kopsch-Sanchez; his first wife, Sandra Lee Stone of Norwood; and nieces, nephews and cousins in New Jersey, California and Florida. He was predeceased by his parents; his aunt and uncle; his brothers, Alton Hitchner of Mission Viejo, CA, and Robert Hitchner of Boca Raton, FL; and a sister, Joan Hitchner of Moorestown, NJ.

The family would like to thank friends and neighbors for their concern and support, and the doctors and staff at Carolinas Medical Center—Main and Carolinas Rehabilitation for their care of Barry. A special thanks to Jamie Bollenwider, 10th Floor Medical ICU, for her compassion and hugs.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the Charlotte Southern Lions Club and mailed to Charlotte Southern Lions Club, % David White, President, 301 Meadowbrook Road, Charlotte, NC 28211.

Arrangements are under the direction of McEwen Funeral Service—Pineville Chapel. Online condolences can be made at www.mcewenpinevillechapel.com