Complete 2012 Journal - 2012 NC Conference Journal

312 The North Carolina Annual Conference – 2012 Journal
A memorial service was held at Epworth UMC in Clinton, NC with the Rev. Cory Oliver
sharing the Eulogy. Interment was in the Epworth UMC cemetery.
Surviving are wife, Dorothy L. Rudd, Clinton, NC; daughter, Joan R. Gaddie, Fergus
Falls, MN; daughter, Jane R. Hughes, Greensboro, NC; son, William Richard Rudd, Ada,
Oklahoma, six grandchildren, one great-grandchild and two sisters.
While serving as evangelist he was a private pilot and flew his plane to preaching
engagements. He loved to sing and preach. Serving the Lord was his delight. His outgoing,
winsome personality led many to Christ!
William Devine Sabiston III
1935 - 2011
It was my honor to lead the funeral service for Bill, Nov. 7, 2011
in Duke Chapel, a site he had requested me to arrange. Belton
Joyner, Kermit Braswell, and Bill’s son also took part. Later,
his ashes were placed in the Long Memorial Columbarium in
Roxboro where he had served and where his family continues to
attend.
I had helped in his wedding to Norma Neil also in Duke Chapel
more than 25 years earlier. Prior to that I led the funeral service
for his first wife, Peggy Johnson, in Edenton Street Church almost exactly 27 years before
his. We also shared in celebrating weddings of our respective children. In other words, for
nearly all of our ministries we enjoyed a close friendship. That’s a special gift for two pastors
in an appointive system, and it even survived my being his district superintendent in his final
appointment.
People were drawn to Bill for his ebullience, his love of life, and his excellence as a pastor and
preacher. Many of us enjoyed his hospitality prior to Duke-Carolina football games, at oyster
roasts in his Treyburn home, and of course on “Rambunctious,” the sailboat he and Norma
learned to sail in dry-as-a-bone Chapel Hill. But Bill persisted in believing that UNC-
Chapel Hill was the center of all learning even in nautical matters. Those of us privileged
to sail with him seldom saw him happier than when he was at the helm of his beloved boat
surrounded by friends, family, and God’s beautiful creation.
Bill was born in Wilmington, July 31, 1935, the son of William D. and Thelma Maye Waters
Sabiston. He graduated from high school in Carthage. His academic preparation included
earned degrees from UNC-CH and Duke University Divinity School, and post-graduate
work at Yale and Edinburgh.
He served Stokes, Salem (Burlington), Vance Charge & Bethlehem-Shady Grove as a
student, then was founding pastor of St. Andrew’s in Garner. Garber, Wallace, Epworth
(Durham), Fairmont (Raleigh), Conference Staff, Trinity (Troy), Long Memorial, and First:
Roanoke Rapids completed his 46 years of faithful and effective service as one of Christ’s
ministers in the North Carolina Conference.