Leslie Edmond Twible

Brunswick County, NC - Leslie "Les" Edmond Twible of Bolivia, NC, formerly of Holden Beach, NC, Cary, NC and Unionville, CT passed away in the presence of his beloved wife,s, Glenda McLean Twible on March 3, 2024.

He was born on April 5, 1947 to the late Robert Twible and Jean Twible.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, Ronnie Twible; his grandparents and his brother-in-law, Milton McLean & Robert McLean.

He is survived by the McLeans, his wife's family in Bladenboro, NC, including her sisters, Monnie (Gary) Hammonds and Joyce Walters; her brothers, Clarence and Melvin; her daughter, Elizabeth (Darin) Andrews; her son, Joseph (Laura) Brisson; her grandchildren, Kelly, Adam and Nate; and her great grandchildren Georgia, Nora, Bryson, Mary Beth, Halli, Audrey Grace, and Allyssa.

Glenda is the love of Les' life. They loved each other deeply. Glenda was an RN, very strong, intelligent, a fine mechanic and repairer, did the traditional wife duties, cut the grass and loved to garden. They took care of each other during challenging health breakdowns.

In Les' highschool year book his classmates said of him "Honor lies in honest toil", which was a very apt description of him as he became salutatorian, a starting football player for four years, Class President each of his four high school years, winner of a National Merit Award, Vice President of the Student Council, the Civitan Best Citizenship Award, and two formal recognitions from Yale University.

He was accepted at Yale, but he won a General Motors full tuition scholarship at Brown University in Providence, RI. In the mid to late 1960"s Brown and several hundred other universities became stalwart anti-Vietnam War campuses. Les became an anti--war student himself, marching against the Pentagon in 1967 with at least 200,000 other students. So he leaves other anti-war lifetime friends including Richard "Tom" Herman of Arden, NC and Brown roommates Robert Bickerstaff of West Warwick, RI, Robert Sherman of Pelham, NH, Christopher Hartneau of Chevy Chase, MD, and Daniel McCarthy of Lexington, MA. So he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Brown as an Advanced History Student and as a concentrator in Urban Studies/American Civilization. He later became a national award-winning MBA/Finance scholar at UCONN. So at Brown he learned about the Plight and Challenges of American cities. Therefore, he devoted virtually all of his 38 year professional career to housing, community development, economic development and public transportation-always with a focus on minority residents and businesses, low and moderate-income folks, and seniors. He worked in both CT and NC. During his lengthy retirement starting in 2008 Les had a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with all the aforementioned McLean Family and with his friends at Mt. Carmel AME Church in Southport, NC.

There was a small number of people who had a great influence on him beside the above friends. First, his maternal grandparents, Ernest and Velma Holcomb, loved and employed him with yard work as a child and later as a gas pumper-car washer during his teens. Ernest known as "Honey", taught the value of work and many other important life lessons to him at gardens, lawns, a chicken coop and as a service station attendant. Les loved "Honey" dearly. Three of Les' bosses each employed him twice. His bosses, Peter Burns and Aime Brochu also became lifelong friends and significant molders of who Les became as a worker and also as a person.

He loved history (like all of Eric Foner), novels like Charles Dickens, and biographies like Whig President James Polk who actively acquired most of the American West, J.D. Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, FDR, Truma, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Clinton. Also though, his interest was strong in all of the arts-paint, color, impressionism, cinema from Harlow to Damon, and rock n roll and R&B. He knew the words to sing to many songs from the 50's to the 80's.

Born as an early Baby Boomer in 1947 Les did have some interesting and sometimes saucy experiences as a child and teenager. His first remembrance was of living in as "temporary" WWII-worker, four-room housing rental about 1950 with Ronnie and his parents. This former worker housing came with a coal chute emptying into the kitchen complete with coal dust. He loved to watch Kukla, Fran & Ollie on early TV.

Thereafter, this young Twible family moved three more times. One unusual rental was a drafty and converted summer cottage fronting on the then polluted Farmington River in Avon, CT. A few of the Lord's creatures lived very close to the cottage and inside the cottage his mother shot and killed a rat through his buttocks (Forrest Gump says BUT'Tocks"). Copperheads maintained their own home directly below the residence and Les killed several by throwing rocks. Though the river was polluted cottonmouths, survived well on the opposite shore while his parents swam. Fresh from the river he was shown a snapping turtle which was wider and longer than a wheelbarrow.

At age six he and his family moved into their long term modest homestead at Cedar Lane in Unionville. There Les and three Boomer friends hung out frequently for several years. Despite his later Good Citizenship Award, these friends did cause some trouble together. They stole strawberries from a neighbor and apples from a nearby farmer. But these four rapscallions went back with eight other boys to steal the farmer's apples a second time. The crafty farmer allowed them to clear his electric fence and begin loading their shirts with apples. Then the farmer suddenly and shockingly appeared before them and banged the butt of his shotgun into the ground. The twelve boys escaped quickly back over the electric wire and gave up all "their" apples up in the air and back to the farmer.

Les was an NC NAACP member and ACLU member and had three favorite charities - Mt. Carmel, Sierra Club and the Salvation Army.

In lieu of flowers please donate to Mt. Carmel AME Church at 517 North Lord Street in Southport, NC.

Les' Celebration of Life will be held by the family at a later date with Pastor Darin Andrews presiding.

The family may receive condolences at www.whitefuneralservicesupply.com

White Funeral & Cremation Service, Bolivia, North Carolina.