Announcement by
Howard-Carter Funeral Home.
SNOW HILL - Norris J. Stoddard, 75, (also known as Nick or Jim Stoddard), of Snow Hill, passed away December 4, 2009, from a heart attack due to diabetes and COPD. He was born on May 11, 1934, to Eugene Ray Stoddard and Olive Woolstenhulme Stoddard in St. Anthony, Idaho. His younger years were spent moving often around Idaho and Utah as his dad was a heavy equipment operator working construction (driving big machinery, building roads, etc.) in the Pacific Northwest. They lived in a little trailer much of the time. They finally "settled" in Salt Lake City in 1943.
Stoddard enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. He served on bases in Korea, Canada, Japan, and Germany as well as Geiger A.F.B. in Spokane, Wash., Seymour A.F.B., N.C., Castle A.F.B., Calif., and others. He retired in 1972 with 20 years of service. He married Margaret Louise Firth in January of 1956 and moved to Hill A.F.B. in Salt Lake City where his daughter Brenda was born in November. Then in 1957, he and Marge moved to Spokane where daughter Tammy was born in November of 1957. Jim and Marge were divorced and Jim was assigned to Seymour Johnson, NC. Here he met his wife, Shirley Jean Thomas of Snow Hill. They married in 1961 and traveled to many countries. They had a son, Shawn Scott in September of 1962.
After his retirement from the U.S. Air Force, Stoddard began his career as a Radio Announcer at WFTC in Kinston N.C. He later moved to Ogden, Utah, to work at KLO in Roy but soon moved back to Kinston, N.C. to finish his career at WRNS. It was during his radio career that Nick took the name Jim as his radio name after his favorite uncle "Jimmy." And the name stuck. Jim loved country music and spent much of his time making recordings for his friends and family. He was a former Sunday School director at Kinston First Pentecostal Holiness Church.
"Jim" is survived by his children, Brenda Brink and husband Mel, of Selah, WA, and their three sons, Jason, Trevor and Jared, Tammy Pilkinton and husband Ron, of Chelan WA, and their daughters, Kayla Helleson (Erik) and Cassie Pilkinton, and Shawn Scott Stoddard and children Sarah and Jonathan. He also leaves behind two sisters, Linda Chartier and husband Paul, of Williamsburg, Va., and Larue Fitzgerald of Phoenix, Ariz.; his wife Shirley's sisters, Mary Moore and husband Marvin, of Kinston and Jo Jarman and husband Raleigh, of Snow Hill; and also many nieces and nephews from North Carolina to Phoenix, Arizona to Salt Lake City, Utah. Jim was preceded in death by his sweet wife Shirley; his parents; and his older brother Levier Stoddard. A celebration of Jim's life will take place at 3 p.m. on January 24, 2010, at Kinston First Pentecostal Holiness Church.
