Charles Amos Trivette, a beloved husband and father; dedicated community servant and church member; and lover of family, almost everyone he met, and life, passed away peacefully on April 10, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. at the age of 96. He was born on March 21, 1928, to Mrs. Fern Tharpe and Dr. L. P. Trivette, in Mooresville, North Carolina, where he grew up and graduated from Mooresville High School. His life was full of family, travels, service, and love. Charles was gently persistent and eternally consistent, demonstrating that a life of faithful dependability, and compassion, coupled with a sense of humor, is clearly one worth living.
Charles is survived by his wife June Trivette (Long) of 66 years, his son Jeff and wife, Penny; two grandchildren, Isabella, and Jacob; and 20 nephews and nieces, numerous great-nieces, and -nephews and many, many great, great-nieces and -nephews. He is predeceased by his parents and his brother, Dr. Dewitt Trivette.
Charles attended Oak Ridge Military Academy and graduated from Lenoir Rhyne University, where he played on the tennis team. He became an avid alumni booster of Lenoir Rhyne, spending decades of Saturday night’s supporting the Bears’ football team. His love of tennis started early when his father built a tennis court of clay in the backyard of his home, flourished at Lenoir Rhyne, and through the years playing with friends and family, and continues today through his son, who is in his 26th season as head tennis coach at UNC-Greensboro.
He loved many sports. The Yankees were his first baseball team, the Braves his second, the Washington Commanders his football team, and Wake Forest his basketball team. Best of all for Charles was watching his grandson, Jacob, as he grew into a collegiate-level baseball player.
Charles served four years in Air Force as an Air Policeman, in Texas and Washington D.C., where one of his duties was escorting the vice-president of the United States. After college and the Air Force he met his love, June Long, at his childhood home in Mooresville. June was a new schoolteacher, boarding with Charles’ mother, who now operated his childhood home as a boarding house for teachers. After they married in June’s hometown of Dobson, the couple moved to Hickory, where June taught school, and Charles worked in the accounting department for Pepsi Cola for 37 years.
While raising Jeff, and working, Charles and June also became mainstays at First United Methodist Church of Hickory, attending for over 60 years until their ages and health required a move to Greensboro. June sang in the choir and Charles took on numerous tasks. For many decades he was the church treasurer, an usher and offertory steward. He was always a member of the adult fellowship class. Later he became a volunteer for the financial secretary of the church, entrusted to count the offering and making the deposits every Sunday. He was the layman-of-the-year at First Methodist at least once.
Charles was always active in the community. For over 40 years he was in The Exchange Club of Hickory, somehow achieving 40 years of perfect attendance. He volunteered regularly for years and years at the soup kitchen; and after retiring, he worked weekly at the Cooperative Christian Ministry for 25 years.
The pace did not slow for Charles and June after retirement. They took so many bus tours across the United States, June finally became a tour organizer, and sometimes fill-in tour guide. Eventually these travels took them to 46 states. They traveled extensively in Europe, visiting, and traveling with Charles’ brother, Dewitt and his wife, Mary Ellen. June’s gorgeous voice also took them to Europe on numerous choir/choral tours, where she sang in some of the great churches and cathedrals on the continent.
Whether a massive Long family reunion, or an annual week at the beach with the Trivettes, Charles was there with his appetite, his smile and his sense of humor – a gentle style of bantering and teasing. And as he grew more dependent on others this humor, along with his kindness and gratitude, became trademarks of the way he interacted with every care-giver lucky enough to cross his path.
Always at the center of Charles’ life was family. He loved the camaraderie of being outdoors with others. He hunted in the fields and woods around the farms of his mother and father in Iredell County near Harmony with his son, brother, and nephews and friends. Fishing was his favorite, though -- whether angling for a channel cat at Lake Norman, itching for a spot run or a bluefish blitz on the piers or in the surf from Windy Hill to Kitty Hawk, or trolling for yellow fin tuna in the gulf off the Outer Banks. Being around the next generations of family on beach trips was sacred time for Charles – a week of chaotic seafood feasts, beach walks, body surfing, fishing for anything that might bit, or simply floating in the shallows on a calm day. Family and the water were life-lengthening balms for Charles, who gently insisted he could still enjoy the ocean’s motion with a little assistance until he was almost 90. Like the ocean’s waves, Charles’ example of living -- will help keep us moving forward.
At a private graveside service, Charles will be laid to rest at Catawba Memorial Park beside his brother, and a public memorial service will be held at First United Methodist Church, 311 Third Avenue NE, Hickory, N.C. at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry.
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