John Calhoun Birmingham, Sr.

John Calhoun Birmingham, Sr., age 93, passed away on Monday, January 28, 2008, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. He was born in Wagram, NC, on February 19, 1914, the third child and only son of the late Calvin Crawford Birmingham and Florida Anders Birmingham. He was preceded in death by his wife of nearly seventy years, Sallie Carr Southerland Birmingham of Duplin Co., NC, and by his two sisters, Ella Wright Birmingham Wood and Cathryn King Birmingham Pennington. He graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, NC, in 1932 and from Presbyterian Junior College in Maxton, NC, in 1934. In 1935 he began working for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Wilmington, NC, and moved with the railroad to Jacksonville, FL, in 1960. With the merger of the Coast Line and the Seaboard Airline Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad now CFX, he and his wife moved to Richmond, VA. He worked for a brief period with the Clinchfield Railroad in Irwin, TN. He retired from the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in January of 1975 and subsequently moved back to Wilmington, NC., where he was a hospital volunteer and Safety Director at Cape Fear Memorial Hospital. He was a lifelong member of St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyerian Church, having joined “old” St. Andrews in 1924 at the age of ten. Mr. Birmingham is survived by his son, Dr. John C. Birmingham, Jr., his granddaugher, Julie Danielle Birmingham, his grandson, Adrian Edward Birmingham, his great-grandson, Andrew Robert Birmingham, all of Richmond, VA, and by two nieces and one nephew and their families in Wilmington, NC, and by one niece in Richmond, VA. The family will receive visitors on Wednesday, January 30, at Andrews Mortuary, 17th and Market Streets, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM. Interment will be at 3 PM at Oakdale Cemetery, with the Rev. Robert H. Lapp, Associate Pastor of St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church conducting the graveside service. Memorials may be made to St. Andrews Covenant Presbyterian Church,1416 Market St., Wilmington, NC 28401.