VERNON PEOPLES


VERNON PEOPLES
RALEIGH - Vernon Daniel Peoples passed away peacefully on February 2 at the Springmoor Retirement Community in Raleigh, NC. Having reached the enviable age of 90, Vernon succumbed to congestive heart failure.

A memorial service will be held at Grace Lutheran Church on Monday, February 7, at 11:00 am.

Vernon was born on March 23, 1920, and raised on a farm in Louisburg, NC.  The oldest of eight children of Bobbie Peoples and Mamie (Lassiter) Peoples, he was a proud member of The Greatest Generation, having grown up during the Depression and left home at the age of 18 to join the United States Navy.  He served his country with honor throughout World War II, with the majority of his service as an enlisted man and NCO aboard the U.S.S. Dixie (AD-14), a destroyer tender that was active throughout the Pacific theater.  He rose to the rank of Chief Machinist’s Mate and was discharged through the port of New Orleans, where he met his wife of 65 years, Margarette (Wende) Peoples, who was serving in New Orleans as a Yeoman in the Navy.  A true case of “love at first sight,” the couple was married on August 10, 1945, only 10 weeks after they met.

After the war, Vernon pursued work in Margarette’s home state of Wisconsin and eventually became a tool and die maker at a Ford Motor Company factory in Chicago.  He spent the next 33 years working for Ford at manufacturing plants in Chicago and Cincinnati, rising through the management ranks and retiring in 1982. Vernon and Margarette moved to Raleigh and enjoyed a long and happy retirement.

Vernon was an active member of the Ohio Masonic Fraternity, F.&A.M., and the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. Throughout his life he read constantly about the Civil War and World War II and enjoyed golf and fishing for Muskie and other large game fish in Wisconsin.

He is survived by his wife Margarette, a resident of Springmoor; his son V. Daniel Peoples, Jr., his wife Margaret and their sons, Curtis and Scott; his son Curtis Peoples, his wife Carolyn Tanner and their daughter, Ashley; his brother W.A. Peoples and his wife Shirley; his brother Darrell Peoples and his wife Alyce; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

A memorial fund has been established in his memory at Grace Lutheran Church, 5010 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, 27609, 919-787-1815.

Paid Obituary