Dwight Morrison Pemberton, 75, died Saturday, January 19, 2019 at his home. Born March 29, 1943 in Fredericksburg, VA, he was the son of the late Alonzo Raleigh and Frances Johnson Pemberton. He married Sandra Leigh Cowan in 1966.
Dwight’s life divided itself into five stages, in his own opinion. The first stage was growing up on the family farm in Spotsylvania County, VA. Dwight loved working the soil and early on learned carpentry skills while helping build a Methodist church.
He was an Eagle Scout. The second stage of Dwight’s life was his education and military service. He graduated from Virginia Tech University and earned a master’s degree from North Carolina State University.
He spent six years in the Virginia National Guard. The third stage of Dwight’s life was full of activity. He had married Sandra in 1966.
Their sons were born in 1971 and 1975 in Raleigh, NC and Martinsville, VA. He began his career as a county agent in adult farm work and worked for the Virginia Extension Service from 1964 to 1972. From 1972 until 2000, he was in textile management, primarily for Panill Knitting Company in Martinsville, VA.
The couple moved to Spartanburg in 1989 when Dwight was employed by United Cloth Co. Dwight retired in 1997 and was ready to take up a different sort of work. The fourth stage of Dwight’s life was his volunteer work from 1997 to 2011. He was an enthusiastic and effective worker on 18 houses for Habitat for Humanity and worked in the Habitat ReStore.
He did the building maintenance for St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic and construction for Young Life camps in Georgia. With Frist Presbyterian, he made several mission trips to the Dominican Republic to work on construction projects there. He also served the church as an elder.
Then in 2011, Dwight entered the fifth and final phase of his life. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and needed a lung transplant to live. His quiet, but resolute will and cheerful preparation for the transplant at Duke University Hospital brought him a new lung at Thanksgiving of 2011.
Dwight and Sandra spent 7 ½ months at Duke. Dwight used that time to share his faith with others awaiting transplants or learning to live with new lungs. Despite reaching his five-year survival anniversary, his lung function gradually began to fail.
Dwight’s deep and abiding faith did not fail him. In addition to his wife of 52 years, Dwight is survived by two sons, Brandon Johnson Pemberton of Seattle, WA and Russell Cowan Pemberton (Britta) of New Canaan, CT; three grandchildren, Lily, 12 of Seattle and Teddy, 8, and Hess, 5 of New Canaan; a brother, Daniel Pemberton (Helen) and a niece, Donna Jones, all of Fredericksburg. A memorial service will be 2:00 PM Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at First Presbyterian Church, conducted by The Rev.
Dr. Thomas E. Evans and The Rev. Joanne Hull. Visitation will follow in the Perrin Room.
Committal into the Church Columbarium will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 393 East Main Street, Spartanburg, SC 29302; Mobile Meals of Spartanburg, PO Box 461, Spartanburg, SC 29304, or to Habitat for Humanity of Spartanburg, 2270 S. Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC 29302. Floyd’s North Church Street Chapel To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Dwight Pemberton please visit our Sympathy Store.
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