Darrell Clay Caviness was born on December 1, 1942 to Verlie J and Ava Lee Caviness in Liberty, North Carolina. He was an identical twin and one of four children. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, growing up in Ramseur, North Carolina with a large family, he loved spending time with his cousins. At the age of 17 he joined the army and served with the Corps of Engineers. After leaving the Army, he moved to Dallas, Texas. He loved living in Dallas and telling stories of his year there. In fact, he was standing on the street where he saw President Kennedy, moments before he was assassinated. Once he left Dallas, he attended Randolph Technical College in Asheboro, North Carolina. He later transferred to Tomlinson College in Tennessee where he met his wife, Linda McKee of 54 years. From 1967-1983 he lived in Lebanon, Tennessee where he was blessed with three children, Jeannie, Darrell Clay II, and Aleta. He worked at Precision Rubber Company while living there. While he was off, he enjoyed volunteering at the Church as a Sunday School Superintendent and Sunday School Teacher.
Some of his hobbies while in Tennessee was going cave exploring and wood working. Darrell loved taking his family to Cedar Forest and grilling hamburgers. He enjoyed building things for the house. Darrell had so many stories and loved telling stories. One of his stories he enjoyed telling was when Aleta was a very young child and they went to the Wilson County Co-Op. He would always buy her soda. But on one occasion, Aleta requested a second soda. He asked how she could possibly hold another one to which she replied “with my other hand”. Darrell really enjoyed planes and taking his kids to watch the planes at the airport. In later years to come, Darrell Clay II obtained his Pilot’s license and was then able to take his Dad flying. Even his grandkids have memories of Pap-Pa flying his flight simulator on his computer.
In November, 1983 Darrell moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia where he took a job for Civil Service with the Department of Defense at Naval Operation Base Norfolk. Darrell continued to volunteer in the Church, serving as a Sunday School Superintendent and Deacon. Most recently he served on the hospitality team with Bridge Church for seven years and he loved every second. One of the biggest traditions Darrell started for our Family was cooking breakfast whether he was in Tennessee or Virginia. Many friends and family loved attending his Christmas breakfast. He made the best scrambled eggs, bacon, and sawmill gravy.
During the Spring and Fall seasons, you could find Darrell diligently working to plant or replant trees. He loved to spend time landscaping his yard which he took great pride in. Just a couple weeks ago in early October, his neighbors would have seen him planting a new Japanese Maple in his front yard to replace a failing dogwood tree. During other seasons, he enjoyed traveling with his wife, Linda. In fact, he said the only place he would go outside of the country to visit was to Israel. In 2018, he and Linda made it happen. When they did not travel, he very much enjoyed holding down the fort and hanging out with his Cat Abigail, who he adored. He loved being home. Darrell would always say “God has blessed me with a good home, I am going to enjoy it.” However, no matter the season, Darrell said the only reason he wanted the Virginia Pilot was to make sure he was not in the Obituary and work on all the word puzzles. He even passed on his passion for puzzles to his Grand Children which he taught them how to do Sudoku. His children and grandchildren loved him, and he adored each one of them. Darrell was a much more mellow Grandfather than Father. You can tell he thoroughly enjoyed his Grandchildren and Great Grand Children.
AND IF DARRELL WAS HERE AND COULD LEAD US IN PRAYER TODAY, HE WOULD WITHOUT A DOUBT END IT WITH “AND THEY ALL SAID…AMEN!”
