Ted was born in Manhattan, New York, son of Edwin Allen and Ora Robilaud Sinclair. His mother died when he was two, the oldest of three boys. As was customary for the time, his father was considered unable to care for three young children so they were separated to live with relatives. After moving between homes, Ted was placed at the Ockley Children’s Home where his father visited on weekends. As a teenager at 16 Ted had to leave to make room for younger orphans.
Ted lived with an older cousin and his wife, Jed Emery and Marjorie DeRusha, who helped him find a way to earn a living by introducing him into the Massachusetts horse racing industry where he worked until drafted into the U.S. Army. He moved to Chicago after he was discharged, studying at the College of Advanced Traffic and living in an apartment with two brothers from West Virginia. Ted began dating Natalie Joyce Shreve, their sister. Six months later Ted and Natalie wed. Folks said a New Yorker - West Virginian pairing wouldn’t last. The couple proved them wrong over the next 60+ years. Ted appreciated his new relatives, something lost to him during his early years.
Perhaps that’s why Ted valued family above his career and declined to make risky moves, like accepting a core role at little start-up now known as FedEx. He settled at Johns Manville Corporate (traffic), where he retired in 1995 after 23 years and with a cancer diagnosis. Doctors said he’d live three to five years. They were wrong by 20+ years.
Ted and Natalie moved to Southport, NC to be near warm weather, beaches, and the sea which he’d come to love after living in Cape Cod, MA. Natalie put decades of medical training to work in finding trials, therapies, and activities that helped to keep the cancer at bay and her husband by her side. She was his full-time caretaker until the end.
With a wonderfully dry, deadpan humor, ease in social interaction, and a quick, often unfiltered wit, Ted was particular in his appearance, an able dancer, and affable man who loved to have fun. As social as he was, he was quiet when it came to himself. You could know him without realizing that he saw Jackie Robinson steal home in New York, trained horses in Cuba, or fought a war in South Korea. He loved his Church, cars, Chicago sports, airplanes, music, and travel.
Ted is survived by his wife, Natalie Joyce Sinclair and their children and grandchildren: Marjorie Elizabeth Sinclair and her son, Nathaniel Rhett Weimer; daughter Jennifer Sinclair Johnson (Roger) and their children, Ryan Fitzgerald Johnson and Lydia Sinclair Johnson; and son Emery Theodore Sinclair (Stacey) and their daughters, Emilee and Linzey Ziv, plus many nieces and nephews.
Ted was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Rex and Donald Sinclair.
Services will be held at Saint Peter Lutheran Church, 4783 Southport-Supply Road, Southport, N.C. on Saturday, April 27, at 11:00 a.m. A luncheon will follow.
Online condolences may be made at www.peacocknewnamwhite.com.
Peacock - Newnam & White Funeral and Cremation Service, Southport, North Carolina.
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