Dace Vestal McPherson Jr.

At his request, no service will be held here in Texas, but a memorial and a spreading of ashes will be held at a later date on the pier in Carolina Beach, NC.

Dace was born January 30, 1948, in Burlington, North Carolina, the oldest of three sons to Dace Sr. and Juanita McPherson. Dace spent his childhood in the small town of Liberty, NC, fishing and hauling in tobacco at his grandpa’s place, delivering newspapers on his bicycle, and taking his younger brothers, Johnny, and Bobby, to watch Saturday horror flicks at the local theater. He graduated from Liberty High School in 1966 where he excelled in football and sciences.

At age 20, Dace enlisted in the US Navy and completed two tours in Vietnam on the USS Constellation, where he served as Fire Control Technician (Surface Missile Fire Control) Petty Officer 3rd Class and went on helicopter rescue missions to bring home wounded servicemen. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Metal, Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device, Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Korea) for his service. He was moved to the Naval reserves after completing his tours in Vietnam until December of 1972.

After leaving the service Dace studied civil engineering at Guilford Technical College and met his wife Patricia O’Cain in 1975. They married on October 14th, 1978, and had two children, Samuel Dace McPherson, and Erin Elizabeth McPherson. Dace worked for many years alongside his brothers Bobby and Johnny at R.W. McPherson construction company as project manager and estimator. He loved to tinker with anything mechanical, especially refurbishing cars and even ran his own business for a while refurbishing houses. When not at work one would often find Dace and family and friends on the pier at Carolina Beach, spending the weekend sleeping in the car and fishing to all hours of the night.

Dace came to Texas in January of 2009 to help out when his daughter Erin broke her back and ended up staying in Texas due to health issues stemming from agent orange exposure during his time in the navy and wanting to stay near his children. He built a home in Burleson in 2013 and lived there with his three little party schnauzers: Hattie, Fritz, and Lollipop. Dace was a jokester and loved to make people laugh. He would often put on different voices; some of his most beloved were a special broom salesman and a gay man who was terrified of snakes. His sense of humor will be missed by all that knew and loved him.

Dace is preceded in death by his parents, Dace Sr. and Juanita McPherson, and his nephew Cameron McPherson of North Carolina.

He is survived by his ex-wife Patricia; son, Samuel Dace McPherson, and wife Jamie; daughter, Erin Elizabeth Jezek and husband Mark; his brothers John and Bobby McPherson of North Carolina, his grandchildren Austin and Riley Jezek and Kimalee McPherson, as well as his many nieces and nephews.