THOMAS C. MCCALL
June 28, 1932-Jan. 9, 2008
Thomas Culbreth McCall died on Wednesday at Wayne Memorial Hospital, due to the accumulation of many health problems caused by Post Polio Syndrome.
The son of L.R. McCall and Viola Royal McCall was born in eastern North Carolina. He was educated in the schools of LaGrange and Stedman and graduated with degrees in English and Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A teaching career began in the secondary schools of Wilmington and continued until he received a request from the then president of Wilmington College, Dr. William M. Randall, to join the English Department faculty there. This began a 29-year career at this school, soon to be in state system as The University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
One of his most cherished achievements during those years was his introduction and teaching of courses in the life and works of William Shakespeare, a passion he longed to share with his students.
After retiring from the University and the termination of his 30-year marriage to Emma Maxwell McCall, Tom (as he preferred to be called) moved to Mount Olive and became a partner in Southern Furniture and Interiors, Inc. and continued a more than 15-year association with this long established business.
Tom contracted Poliomyelitis in the first year of his life which left him with some physical limitations. Though unfortunate, these limitations directed and focused him toward the more cerebral interests of literature, the arts in general and an ever expanding quest for Shakespeareana. Through a 50-year extensive search, both in England and America, he collected over 300 artifacts -- paintings, prints, busts, bronzes, porcelains, etc. -- of Shakespeare and his characters. Tom's collection has been donated by Tom and his partner, Gene Mercer, to the Folger Shakespeare Library and is named the Thomas C. McCall Shakespeare Collection in his honor.
Mr. McCall is survived by his business partner and companion, Gene Mercer, of the home; friends, Alejandra and Felipe Garza of Mount Olive, Bronwin and John Morgan of Wilmington and Doris Pickard of Wilmington.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to The Thomas C. McCall Shakespeare Collection, The Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capitol St., NE, Washington, D.C. 20003 or The Steele Memorial Library, 111 N. Chestnut St., Mount Olive, N.C. 28365.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Online condolences may be posted at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Seymour Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Goldsboro, N.C.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on January 10, 2008 3:09 PM