Charles Earion Sutherland

Charles Earion Sutherland, 84, of Helmstetler Road, died Sunday, May 10, 2015, at Hinkle Hospice House. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Friday, May 15, 2015, at Sheets Memorial Baptist Church, where he was a member, with the Rev. Frankie Matthews officiating. Burial will follow in the National Cemetery with Masonic graveside rites by Lexington Memorial Lodge 473 and Military graveside rites by the US Army. The family will receive friends at Davidson Funeral Home from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 14, 2015, and other times at the home. Mr. Sutherland was born July 28, 1930, in McDowell County, W. Va., to Charles Elbert Sutherland and Catherine May Reed Sutherland. He joined the military at a young age and served his nation honorably for many years. Starting in 1947 and until 1954, he served in the US Navy as a machinist. After the Navy, he worked for General Motors as a tool and die maker and later returned to national service, enlisting in the US Army in 1958. His naval experience proved invaluable in 1965 when the Army commissioned the USNS Corpus Christi Bay (T-ARVH-1), a helicopter repair ship. Two years later, while assigned to the 5th Infantry Division, he earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his brave actions, which saved the lives of two of his men during intense close-quarters combat. During the battle, he sustained a serious bayonet wound and other injuries. After his Vietnam tours, he went on to serve in the US Army in various capacities in many other assignments, culminating with his retirement as the Army promoted him to Sergeant Major. For reasons of his own he elected to retire shortly thereafter, having served a total of 28 years in uniform, and then he served another 20 years with the Department of Defense, earning his MBA and performing as an exemplary maintenance repair facilities manager in the Defense Logistics Agency. He was a member of Petersburg Masonic Lodge 15, Oasis Shrine Temple of Charlotte, Acca Shrine Temple of Richmond, VA., Lifetime member of American Legion Post 2 of Petersburg, Va., and Lexington Memorial Lodge 473. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his first wife, Virgie Morris Sutherland and a step-son, Richard Herman Yarbrough. Surviving are his loving wife, Vernell Heitman Sutherland; sons, Charles David Sutherland and wife Cindy of Bossier, La., Charles Patrick Sutherland of Ohio; step-son, Charles Wesley Yarbrough and wife Kathy of Lexington; daughters, Teresa Sutherland of Salisbury, Anita McClellan and husband, Eric of Richmond, Va.; step-daughter, Sharon Diane Turner of Kernersville; 13 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; brother, Jackie Sutherland and wife Geneva of Flint, Mi.; and sisters, Peggy Blossom and husband Jack of Flint, Mi., and Martha Dunn and husband Dwayne of Portsmouth, Va. Memorials may be made to Sheets Memorial Baptist Church, 210 Cotton Grove Road, Lexington, NC 27292; Lexington Shriners, c/o Jimmy Barney, 113 Holiday Drive, Lexington, NC 27295; or Hospice of Davidson County, 200 Hospice Way, Lexington, NC 27292.