D J Redding, Jr.

Mr. D J Redding, Jr. passed away on November 21, 2016 at Oak Forest Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was born on October 17, 1921 to Dolphus Japhet and Essie Redding in Wilkes County. He grew up in the Clingman community and graduated from Ronda High School in 1938. In 1957, he was awarded a certificate of achievement from the School of Business Administration of Wake Forest College for studies in Small Business Management. On August 19, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served 3 years, 3 ½ months, faithfully, serving in New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, the Marshall Islands and the Hawaiian Islands. He was an expert marksman, and after his marriage to Alene, spent the remainder of his tour working in the personnel offices at Parris Island.

After the military, he returned to the Clingman community, where he farmed and was employed by the Winston-Salem Journal in the Sparta/West Jefferson area, served on the Clingman Elementary School Board and was one of the directors to sign up membership for the area telephone services. He had a wonderful building career, with Wilson-Bros. Lumber Co., a partner in Westmore Development Co. and later, his own company, D.J. Redding, Inc. He served as president of the Winston-Salem Homebuilder's Association (1963-64) and served on the Board of Directors of the State Homebuilder's Assoc. in 1964. He was appointed by the Forsyth County Commissioners to serve on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Planning Board for two four year terms, beginning in February 1984 and ending February 1992.

In March 1980, he rescued the Rural Hall Train Depot from demolition, and moved it from the original site to its current site, property owned by Mr. Redding. He restored the building now recognized as a Forsyth County Historic Property and on the National Register of Historic Places. The depot now serves the community as a historic site and railroad museum.

Mr. Redding was a faithful Christian all his life. While in Wilkes County, he served as Teacher, Church Treasurer and Deacon at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church until he moved to Rural Hall. After Moving to Rural Hall, he joined the First Baptist Church of Rural Hall and served as a Deacon, taught the Men's Sunday School Class, sang in the choir, served nine years as Sunday School Director and served on a number of Pastoral Search Committees. He was chairman of the Building Committee when the church relocated and was a Trustee of the church. Mr. Redding was a steadfast supporter of the merger of First Baptist with REVO, a more contemporary church, knowing that ""time brings change and change is important to the growth of the church.""

He and his wife Alene celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary January 1, 1995, and they had a wonderful love for many more years; ""childhood sweethearts"" he would say. When the First Baptist Church celebrated Heritage Sunday in 2013, and published a book on the church's history, his closing statement was: ""I would like to be remembered as a follower of Christ and simply, a good person."" He truly was.

Mr. Redding was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Alene Elizabeth Green Redding, who passed away July 25, 1997; four brothers: Wallace (Omie), Troy (Mary Louise, Carrie), Dewey (Pansy) and Turner (Ruth); and two sisters, Louise Cleary (Gene) and Marie Welborn (Garmon). Surviving are his two children, Donna Jo Redding Abernethy (David) and Herschel Allen Redding (Judy). He had four grandchildren: Jason Abernethy (Allison) of Camas, WA, and Cody Abernethy (Diana) of Fuquay-Varina, Rachel Redding Tatum (Tres) and Amanda Redding King (Nick) of Kernersville. At the time of his death, he had six great-grandchildren: Leah, Zack, Rayleigh, and Reed Abernethy, Grady King and Darby Tatum and one ""on the way"" (Libby Tatum).

A Celebration of Life will be conducted 11:00 a.m. Monday, November 28, 2016 at REVO Church, on Broad Street in Rural Hall with Reverends Nathan Cline, Wesley Johnson and Jim Hamblen officiating. A committal service will follow the service at 2:00 p.m. in Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, located at 3982 Clingman Rd., Ronda, NC 28670. The family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Sunday evening, November 27, 2016 at Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home in Rural Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the charity of the donor's choice, or to Mr. Redding's non-profit museum, the Rural Hall Historic Train Depot and Railroad Museum, P.O. Box 1164, Rural Hall, NC 27045.

On October 17th he celebrated his 95th birthday. This Marine never gave up until God called him home. Semper Fi! Always Faithful!

The family expresses grateful appreciation to the staff of Oak Forest Health and Rehabilitation Center for the care of Mr. Redding.

Previous Events