Obituaries

Robert Horace Rhyne died on April 22, 2016 at Trinity Oaks Health and Rehab Center in Salisbury, NC.  He was born in Lincolnton, NC on June 9, 1920, to Velma Hauss and George Rhyne.  As a child he lived at the Lincoln Lithia Inn Summer Resort with his parents who managed the facility, which was owned by his great uncle, D.E. Rhyne.  He later attended Fork Union Military Academy and Lenoir Rhyne College, where he developed a love of flying in a yellow, single engine E-2 Piper Cub. 

He began working for the Civil Aeronautics Administration on Feb 1, 1942, working in Atlanta and Charlotte as an air traffic controller until he was drafted into the Army Air Corps.  He then spent 26 months setting up air traffic control towers in Europe.  In 1950 he moved his family to Asheville to open a control station for the Federal Aviation Agency.  He then became chief controller in Winston-Salem and ultimately retired in 1972 as manager of Raleigh Durham International Airport’s air traffic control tower.

 He moved back to Lincolnton in 1977 where he and his wife Marybelle could be close to their aging parents.  They renovated the first private residence in Lincolnton to have electricity and became active members of the community.  He served four years on the Lincolnton City Council,  and then  served as chairman for the Alcohol Beverage Control Board.  They moved to Trinity Oaks Retirement Community in Salisbury, NC in 2000 where he received wonderful care at every level.

Mr. Rhyne was preceded in death by his beloved wife of sixty four years, Marybelle Cline, a sister, Celia Margaret, who died when she was eight years old, and his close friend, Margaret Sloop.

He is survived by his daughter Linda Cecelia Rhyne and her husband Tom Williams of Greensboro, NC;    by his granddaughter Stewart Rhyne Cincotta and her husband Jeff of Charlotte, NC; and his great granddaughter, Reese Rhyne Cincotta.

A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, April 26 at 3pm at Hollybrook Cemetery in Lincolnton, NC.

Memorial gifts may be made to Changing Spaces at Trinity Oaks, PO Box 947, Salisbury, NC 28145, or Rowan Hospice and Palliative Care, 730 Grove Street, Salisbury, NC, 28144.