James Prince Pendergrass

James Prince Pendergrass, LT_USNR-Fleet Reserve, passed away on March 15th. Prince was a long time resident of Old Laurel Hills, Raleigh. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Janie McFarling Pendergrass; two sons, James and his wife Beth, and Andrew and his wife Barbara; daughter , Suzanne Wallace; three grandchildren, Matthew, Daniel and Lindsay; five great –grandchildren; and sisters, Dot Kelly and Patricia Williams. He was preceded in death by brothers Watts and Coye, sisters, Josephine Horner and Agnes Lee Edwards, great-grandchild Jack Michael Pendergrass, and in his words “the best mother-in-law that ever lived", Bonnie Belle Markham McFarling.

Prince was born in 1927 and raised in Durham County, NC, a child of the Depression. He attended Hope Valley School, graduating as valedictorian in 1944, of a class in which any number of his classmates could have also been valedictorian. He quickly joined the US Navy as a regular. While in radioman school, he showed natural talent for high-speed morse code and crypto, thus the Navy assigned him to a select group of oldtimer radiomen, mostly pre-war veterans, people that had served in old Shanghai, up the Yangtze and out in the Gobi Desert. They taught him well and he progressed through the ranks to RM2, then to Communications Technician First Class, and from there he received a direct commission to LTjg, followed by promotion to full Lieutenant. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, and after release to inactive duty remained in the Reserves, first as Ready Reserve, then In-active Reserve, and finally at age 60 moved into Fleet Reserve.

During the break between WWII and Korean War, Prince attended UNC-Chapel Hill and by going 24/7/12, plus taking one correspondence course, completed the course requirements for his BS Geology in 2 years 9 months and was immediately sent to Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands. Some reward!

After the Korean War, Prince worked for the NC Department of Transportation, Materials and Tests Unit, putting in 32 years. His main work was in Portland Cement concrete, where he was very involved with the beginnings of the use of pre-stressed concrete by NCDOT. The latter half of his career was spent as Area Materials Engineer for eastern half of the State, in which he had an outstanding run, but hey, he had Sallie, he had Tas, Lee, Haywood, Ronald, Bill, Gerald, Bobby….the list goes on and on. Anything less than outstanding would not have been acceptable.

Graveside Services will be held on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 3:30 PM at Old Chapel Hill Cemetery in Chapel Hill. Family will receive friends on Friday from 12-2 PM at Mitchell Funeral Home, 7209 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC.

Memorial Contributions can be sent to Wake County SPCA, 200 Petfinder Lane, Raleigh, NC.

Condolences to www.MitchellatRMP.com