James "Jim" M. Neely, 77, peacefully passed away December 13th, 2019, at Transitions LifeCare in Raleigh, with devoted family by his bedside. After a long, courageous battle with lung cancer, he joined his parents, Roy Emerson Neely and Doris Lee Neely, along with sister, Kit Neely, of Raleigh, NC. He is survived by his children; Shannon Neely, Scott Neely, Christy (Allen) Lassiter, Mark Neely, and Heather (Travis) Moore; his grandchildren; Jake, Ashley, Connor, Anna, and Carson; sister, Cheri Neely, and brother, Mike (Rhonda) Neely.
Born in Hamlet, NC, to three generations of Railroad Engineers, Jim moved to Raleigh, NC, with his family at the age of eight. He graduated from Broughton High School in 1961, attended NC State University, and joined the US Air Force in 1964. He spent three years stationed at Eglin AFB in Florida. Sgt. James Neely also served one year in the Vietnam War as an Electronic Warfare Specialist of the 460th Armament and Electronics Maintenance Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, a job he thoroughly enjoyed. He rejoined civilian life upon his return from Vietnam in March 1968, having earned the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, also qualifying as USAF Small Arms Sharpshooter during his service.
Jim was a dedicated employee of IBM in Raleigh, where he retired in 1993 after twenty-five years as an electrical engineer. He began his career testing equipment used on the New York Stock Exchange and was the lead test engineer on IBM's Point of Sale systems, first introduced to the retail world in 1985. Jim declined managerial promotions because he loved the hands-on diagnostic work of being an electrical engineer. After retiring from IBM, Jim worked an additional five years for Measurements Group before permanently retiring in 2000.
Aside from his expert diagnostic, repair, and engineering skills of all things electrical and otherwise at home and work, he was quite the pool shark. Jim developed a passion for pool in his early college days at the Eight-Ball Pool Room on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, where he used to rack balls for six-time world champion, Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter. After having played against and receiving pointers from one of the greatest pool players of all time, Jim spent the next fifty-four years schooling onlookers on how to sink an eight ball rather quickly, with Nine-ball being his game of expertise. A twenty-three-year member of the American Pool-players Association, he played on an amateur pool league at Brown's and Triangle Billiards in Raleigh, from 1991-2014. His team won an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas to play in the National APA Tournament. Jim also enjoyed golf with his work buddies and shagging to his vast collection of Beach Music and Soul records with first wife, Diana Barbour, and second wife, Michele Gibson Rowland, at the Scramble Dog and Red's in Raleigh. Favorite family memories were made boating with his kids, setting crab pots, going crabbing, flounder gigging, digging for clams and oysters, catching shrimp in the sound, and surf fishing at their beloved family beach cottage on Topsail Island.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm, January 26th, at Brown-Wynne on Millbrook Rd. The family will greet close friends and family immediately following the service at a reception at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina and Transitions LifeCare of Wake County.
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