Louis Robert Colombo

Louis Robert Colombo, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, finished his work on Earth June 4, 2024. Home with his wife and great love of his life, Laura, his daughter, Kathryn, his son, John, their spouses and other close family beside him, Lou went peacefully into the arms of God. His final months were joy-filled with visits from those he loved the most.

Lou dedicated his career to public service. At 17, he joined the Navy as a Combat Aircrewman during WWII. After attending Muhlenberg College, Lou left Temple Law School accepting a direct commission serving as Naval Officer assigned to Armed Forces Security Agency (later the NSA) during the Korean conflict.

In 1954, Lou became assistant to the Director of Research on the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security of the Judiciary, two years later joining the U.S. Department of State, Office of Security and Consular Affairs. As such, he participated in the protective detail for Nikita Khruschev during his US visit, including both Camp David and his lodging, the Blair House.

Lou often said he had to go all the way to Tehran, Iran, to find the love of his life, Laura Conner, a beautiful blonde from New Bern, NC. During his 15 years as Supervisory and Regional Security Office for the security of embassies, consulates, as well as their personnel and classified material, he covered Iran, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Italy, Malta, Spain, and Portugal. During that time, he coordinated with the Secret Service for visiting U.S.Presidents Nixon, Johnson and Ford, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Secretaries of State, members of Congress, other American VIPs including the Apollo 11 Astronauts, Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins and then Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. Lou met with heads of nations including the Shah of Iran, Presidents of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Italy, and Pope Paul VI.

After years of Federal service, Lou, a native of Hazleton, PA, moved to his wife’s hometown of New Bern. Lou became a North Carolinian by choice and later by gubernatorial decree. He served as Vocational Adjustment Services Coordinator at Craven Evaluation and Training Center as well as a news columnist for the Havelock News and was a regular on the local television talk show.

Instrumental in the incorporation of the Town of River Bend, Lou was elected to the River Bend Town Council and President of the River Bend Men's Golf Association.

Always an active Republican, in 1986, Lou was appointed by Republican Governor James Martin to serve on the N.C. Parole Commission. In 1990, Lou became chairman of the Commission during a time of prison overcrowding and enforced parole numbers. The N.C. General Assembly appointed him to serve on the N.C. Sentencing Commission.

Upon Lou’s retirement from the N.C. Parole Commission, he received a standing ovation from the Democratic controlled N.C. House and Senate. Governor Martin then appointed Lou to the N.C. Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse Commission.

In 1992, Governor Martin made Lou an HONORARY TAR HEEL in order to present him with the most prestigious award given a North Carolina native civilian: THE ORDER OF THE LONG LEAF PINE.

Two years later, Governor James Hunt, a Democrat, also presented Lou with THE ORDER OF THE LONG LEAF PINE for his work on the N.C. Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse Commission.

In 1992 James C. Drennan, staff member of the INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT wrote to Lou Colombo: “I have known many public officials in the 18 years I have worked at the Institute of Government. I have known no one who had a harder job, or who was more devoted to the task at hand than you. The state has indeed been fortunate to have had the benefit of your services at this very crucial time in the life of its criminal justice system. Your advocacy of improved ways of doing business has also been an important part of the overall effort to rethink the way resources are allocated. I do not know how the great debate will be decided, but I do know that the quality of the debate has been enriched by your efforts."

That same year in the Charlotte Observer, Jack Betts wrote: "Colombo, who is leaving his post at the end of the current legislative session, is among the most admired public servants in Raleigh. He surely has been among Governor Martin’s best appointees to critical posts."

Returning to Riverbend, Lou was appointed Chairman of the N.C. Criminal Justice Day Reporting Board by the Craven County Commissioners. He served on the North Carolina Structured Sentencing Commission which, in 2019, celebrated a quarter-century.

During retirement, Lou was active in his town, his golf club, his church, his breakfast group, and is still recognized for his regular Letters to the Editor.

Lou lived his nearly 99 years to the fullest and will be missed most of all by his wife of 63 years, Laura, his children and their spouses, Kathryn and John Talton, John and Peg Colombo, his grandchildren Jack Talton, Davis Ann Cacciatore and her husband Justin and their three children, grandchildren Michelle Hilley, her three children, and three grandchildren, and Dale Rothwell and his three children, his sisters, Marie Beauchamp, Jeanann DeAndrea, and Marylou Colombo, his beloved nieces and nephews, and close friends.

The family gives thanks for the wonderful care given by his day aid Evangelyn, and Craven County Hospice, nurse April and respite aid Nora.

The family will host a celebration of life Saturday, July 13, 4-6pm at Riverbend Golf and Country Club. A private graveside service will take place earlier in the day. Memorial donations in his name may be made to St. Paul’s Catholic Church, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Craven County Hospice.

Cotten Funeral Home is honored to serve the family and friends of Louis Robert Colombo.