Vernon Hedrick's Obituary
You ran the risk, entering a store anywhere around Charlotte with Vernon E. Hedrick, of unexpectedly adding an extra 15 minutes to the chore. For he'd meet one of the hundreds of players this life-long basketball coach and educator had mentored over the decades, and there they'd stand, happily traipsing down memory lane as the ice cream melted.
Sports, specifically basketball, was a pillar of Vernon's life, along with his large extended family and the fortunes of his alma matter, Lenoir-Rhyne University – all resting on the foundation of devotion to his Lutheran faith.
Of such bedrock things did Vernon craft a rich, rewarding life that ended with his death New Year's Day at age 88, felled by the cancer he never paid much mind. He was too busy still driving himself all over the Carolinas supporting his beloved Lenoir-Rhyne Bears football team in their latest conference championship season. That's the Lutheran college (now university) that Vernon served as a trustee for several years starting in 1997.
Trustee of a college: he’d done alright, the boy who'd grown up one of 10 siblings in Depression-era Oxford, N.C., son of Russell and Bessie Lail Hedrick. He learned to focus on the task at hand at meal-times lest the food run out before all the appetites did around that table. (A gregarious soul and gifted teller of tales, once armed with a knife and fork, Vernon kept his priorities straight.)
Born August 31, 1930 and the only member of his family to attend college, Vernon did so courtesy of a bouncing orange ball -- his passion over the decades that followed, on down to the license plate that read: "X-COACH."
After he and life-long friend Joe Coulter led tiny Oxford High School, total male enrollment some 50 students, to the Catawba County championship in 1950 – where Vernon made the all-tournament team – he was offered a full scholarship to Lenoir-Rhyne College. He ended up playing both basketball and football at the Lutheran college located in Hickory, N.C.
But not before his education was interrupted by stateside service in the U.S. Army’s 398th AAA Battalion during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. And a good thing it was, that hiatus, for it allowed the love of his life, Audrey Sue Collins to show up on campus. He had the good sense to marry her in 1955. Audrey and Vernon were devoted life-long companions for 55 years till her death in 2010.
Son Eric and daughter Julie followed along in due course, but not before Vernon began his coaching and teaching career at Maiden High School, where for ten years, he coached three sports, taught history and was athletic director.
From there it was on to an 18-year career at Charlotte’s Olympic High School, where he taught, coached cross-country, was athletic director for a time and coached boys basketball throughout his tenure. One highlight was making it to the state Final Four in basketball in 1982. Another was coaching the western North Carolina All-Stars in the state game in 1983. Mostly, though, it was about teaching young men far more about life than just basketball. Along the way, he got a Masters Degree in Education from North Carolina A&T State University.
And Vernon embraced life with both hands. Son Eric once expressed an interest in bees, and so they sent away for a crate of bees. Blink, and there was Vernon with some 40 hives scattered around the countryside. He gave away as much honey as he sold, but that little extra perhaps helps explain how he always had a classy, fast car, a new one every few years even on a teacher’s salary.
(He used to joke that returning to college with a brand new ‘53 Ford bought with two years of Army pay this non-carousing, good Lutheran had saved during his service helped catch Audrey’s eye.)
And part of that embrace of life was an absolute talent for friendship, service and leadership. He couldn’t spend a week at the beach, the family vacation for all those years, without making friends with the folks at the next umbrella. He was always in leadership positions at the Lutheran churches he attended, and was very active in the Lenoir-Rhyne Piedmont Educational Foundation.
After his retirement from coaching and teaching at Olympic, Vernon became quite a successful real estate agent, but the leopard didn’t change his spots. Folks he sold homes too remained his friends, people he saw regularly, for many years.
Then there’s his absolute devotion to Audrey. Vernon was her unstinting, 24/7 caretaker in her last years. For who could do the job better than he?
His example was emulated by the tender care of his son, Eric, and especially his daughter-in-law Teresa; Vernon saw out his last 4 years under their roof in Greenville, S.C. and in their care, and often expressed his deep appreciation. Teresa’s sister, Annette Howard, also proved a huge help.
Vernon is survived by Eric and Teresa and step-grandchildren Ryan and Jackson, Ryan’s wife Jennifer, and step-great-grandchildren, Ryan, Shelby and Savannah.
He is also survived by his daughter Julie Hedrick Forbes, son-in-law Daniel Forbes and their children, Warren and Weston.
He was pre-deceased by his 9 siblings: sisters Mabel, Eadrie and Ethel and brothers Clarence, Jimmy, Clyde, Raeford, Ernest, Fred and Russell.
Receiving at James Funeral Home, 10520 Arahova Drive, Huntersville, N.C., Friday, Jan. 4th from 5 to 7 p.m.
Funeral Service at Community In Christ Lutheran Church, 7621 Norman Island Drive, Cornelius, N.C. Saturday, Jan 5th at 10:00 a.m. Burial thereafter at Iredell Memorial Park, 2304 Shelton Avenue, Statesville, N.C.
In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to Community In Christ Lutheran Church or to Piedmont Educational Foundation.
James Funeral Home of Huntersville is serving the family. www.jamesfuneralhomeLKN.com
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