Buried in Holly Springs Free Will Baptist Cemetery, Kenly, NC
Married Mary Alice Rivenbark Stancil Ayers on Nov. 23, 1952, at Wallace Presbyterian Church parsonage in Wallace, Duplin County, NC
Thomas "Junior" Emmette Stancil Jr.Thomas Emmette Stancil Jr., also known as Junior, was born Dec. 15, 1924, and died May 23, 1980. He married Mary Alice Rivenbark on Nov. 23, 1952, in Wallace, Duplin County, NC.
Junior's children with Mary Alice Rivenbark Stancil
Thomas “Tommy” Emmette Stancil III
Alice Marie Stancil Huggins
Mary Alice, Junior, Alice and Tommy III.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
Junior Stancil sits on his bike in 1928.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
Thomas Emmette Stancil Jr., the oldest son of Emmette and Dessie Morris Stancil, was born on December 15, 1924, in Johnston County, North Carolina.
Known affectionately as ‘Junior,’ he was a high-spirited young man with a friendly personality, though he sometimes struggled with school rules.
Growing up in the 1930s, Junior was part of the Center Ridge Presbyterian Church revival with some of his siblings but later returned to Holly Springs Free Will Baptist Church. He left school around the ninth grade.
An incident in the early 1940s involved Junior accidentally injuring a young boy, the son of tenant farmers for Eva Stancil, while driving his father’s car at Emmette’s store. This resulted in a lawsuit that was eventually settled.
Junior Stancil stands with his motorcycle in Panama City, Florida, on Feb. 25, 1945.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
In his late teens and early twenties, Junior held various jobs. Around 1942, Ralph mentioned in a letter that Junior had bought a motorcycle, visited his brother Harold in Charleston, had an accident, broke a leg, and recovered.
By 1944, he was working at the Army Air Base, Bluthenthal Field, in Wilmington, NC, and had registered for the WWII draft. However, having enlisted in the Navy in December 1942, just before his 18th birthday, Junior served until an honorable discharge from the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 24, 1944, following a knee injury. Earlier, in 1943, he and his brother G.I. were photographed together in their summer whites at their grandfather’s homeplace.
After his discharge, Junior’s adventurous spirit continued. By March 1947, he owned an Ercoupe airplane and was giving rides. In late October 1949, Junior was operating the Asheboro Airport in Randolph County, running a GI Training School for nine students with the support of local authorities. He was excited about a pilot fly-in planned for November 1949.
Junior Stancil stands with father Emmette Stancil and Jack Benedict in front of a plane.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
Junior had taken flying lessons at a Selma, NC, Flight School and by 1952, he was teaching his father, Emmette, to fly. He purchased an airplane and worked as a crop duster, also offering recreational and sightseeing flights over White Lake Resort. Known for his love of attention, he sometimes amused himself by swooping low to startle mules working in the fields.
It was at White Lake Resort that Junior met Mary Alice Rivenbark. Born on February 26, 1930, Mary Alice grew up on a tobacco farm in the Penderlea Community of Pender County. Her mother was a school cafeteria manager, and Mary Alice graduated from high school before pursuing her natural nurturing instincts by training as a Registered Nurse at James Walker Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, graduating in 1948.
During a weekend trip to White Lake with friends from Wilmington, Mary Alice encountered the charismatic ‘Junior’ Stancil, who was running his summer airplane and boat ride business at the lake, where he lived with his parents in a large house that also accommodated tourists. Mary Alice was drawn to Junior’s friendliness, outgoing personality, intellect, good looks, and his skill as a fearless pilot. They began dating while Mary Alice continued nursing in Wilmington.
Mary Alice Rivenbark and Junior Stancil on their wedding day in Duplin County, North Carolina, in 1952.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
Their relationship deepened, and Thomas Emmette ‘Junior’ Stancil Jr. and Mary Alice Rivenbark married on November 23, 1952, at the Wallace Presbyterian Church parsonage in Wallace, Duplin County, NC. Junior’s parents, Emmette and Dessie, his grandmother Eva Stancil, and sisters Rose and Martha attended, along with Mrs. Fred Savage, a neighbor who had supported Mary Alice’s nursing education. None of Mary Alice’s family was present.
Following their wedding, Junior and Mary Alice visited Junior’s Uncle Ralph and Aunt Ethel in Florida in early 1953, helping them plant watermelons. Mary Alice quickly impressed her new relatives with her willingness to work. After marrying, Mary Alice also earned her pilot’s license, and they purchased two planes, a cub sprayer and a Tri Pacer, often flying together. Once, a pregnant Mary Alice had to make an emergency landing in a schoolyard due to bad weather, landing safely with the help of locals.
Together, Junior and Mary Alice welcomed two children: Thomas “Tommy” Emmette Stancil III, born on February 22, 1954, and Alice Marie Stancil, born on January 3, 1957. Both children experienced their first airplane rides at a very young age, piloted by their father.
For many years, Junior operated a sightseeing business at White Lake and was also a successful crop duster, renowned as a gifted pilot. Tommy fondly remembered riding with his father during crop-dusting runs, a thrilling experience for a young boy.
Tommy has a memory of his father's crop dusting:
“Yes, at times I would ride w/ Dad when he sprayed or dusted crops. Most times when we were going from one place to another and servicing crops on the way.
I remember one time when quite young, we were going from Washington (NC) to White Lake and spraying on the way.
We were in a Piper Cub w/ the tank built into where the back seat was. I was riding on top of the tank, on my belly, holding onto the plane’s tubing supports... Ya Hoooooooooooooo :)”
—Tommy
For a short time, Junior also ran the Woodard Store in Glendale.
In August 1965, junior had Cousin Renn Stancil drive a van from Lakeland, Florida, up to North Carolina for him.
Despite their shared adventures and the joy of raising their children, Thomas and Mary Alice’s marriage ended in divorce on October 17, 1966, in Pitt County, NC. Alice Marie lived with her mother, while Tommy lived with his father, though they visited each other often. Despite the divorce, Junior and Mary Alice maintained friendly terms, keeping their focus on their children. Mary Alice always supported Tommy and Alice, ensuring Alice could participate in a French Club trip to France, even working extra to afford it. She celebrated their graduations, marriages, and the births of their children.
In the spring of 1969, Junior visited Renn in Palatka where she was teaching. They went out to dinner.
Junior, a lifelong smoker with a fondness for cigars, later developed mouth cancer. He sought treatment at Duke Hospital, but ultimately, there were no effective solutions. He passed away on May 23, 1980, in Wilson, and was buried at Holly Springs Cemetery in Kenly.
Thomas Emmette Stancil Sr. tombstone at Holly Springs Cemetery
Mary Alice continued her nursing career, becoming Director of Nursing and working in management for healthcare facilities in Beaufort and Pitt counties. She retired from Pitt County Memorial Hospital in 1995. Mary Alice was very proud when several family members, including Alice and her granddaughters Sarah, Meghan, and Marenda, pursued careers in the medical field.
Mary Alice Rivernbark Stancil AyersContributed
In 1988, Mary Alice married Harry Calvin Ayers, who passed away in October 1983. In 1992, she moved next door to her daughter Alice and her husband Ronnie, becoming an active member of the Ayden Christian Church. She also cared for her mother, Lizzie, for 15 years, sharing a love for gardening and canning. Mary Alice was known for her welcoming smile, friendliness, helpfulness, and love for people. She cherished her role as a mother, grandmother to Ronnie Dale Jr., Sarah Elizabeth, Meghan Leigh, and Marenda Alice, and great-grandmother to Scarlet Olivia.
Mary Alice Rivenbark Stancil Ayers died peacefully at home on November 12, 2010, surrounded by her family. Her funeral was held at Farmer Funeral Service-Ayden, and she was buried at Riverview Memorial Park near Wallace, NC. She is remembered by her son Tommy and his wife Marty, her daughter Alice and her husband Ronnie, her grandchildren, and her great-granddaughter for her joy, laughter, unconditional love, optimism, and faith in God.
Alice wrote of her mother, "Mom was a great cook and enjoyed sharing whatever she had with family and friends. She was a wonderful daughter, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. We will all miss her dearly."
Memories of Junior
Bobby Renfrow's memories of Junior and his airplane:
Remembering Junior and his plane
Bobby RenfrowCourtesy Stancil Reunion Archive
One day Junior brought a 85 HP Globe Swift Into the TES farm strip at Glendale, Why I don't know because the length at that time was only 1100 feet.
They had cut the trees and removed them but the stumps were still there. 1100 feet isn't very far even with a Super Cub. Leaves no room for errors or mother nature. After some discussion it was decided to leave the Airplane there and wait for better conditions. After a couple of weeks he came back to retreive his Baby Swift. I'm not sure but I think it might have been a Sunday because there were a lot of men around. There were always a crowd at Grandmas on Sunday.
The wind was right for the try, and I say try because this was a draw for the lottery. After Instructions to Five doubtful Men run up was completed and the Swift whick actually was not very swift was taxied to the edge of the road and everyone who could get a hold on it was in place. Both wing tips and even pushing on the stabilizer and rudder. Full throttle and brakes on until every one of the 85 Horses was kicking, then release, everyone pushed and ran until the plane left their grips.
The little airplane started down the runway like turtle with lunch on its mind. It ran and ran and ran until everyone begin to gasph because it was not flying.
As it approached the very last inch of runway where the next thing was stump after stump accross a 200 foot opening, Down came the Flaps and up came the Gear..Wow..The Swift didn't change its pitch at all, it just kept going clearing the stumps by inches, slowly begining to climb towards the trees in its path.
The men and children watching in awww, hearts stopped and not breathing, waiting for the desentigration of the little airplane and cousin Junior, but as fate would have it the 85 HP Continental never missed a lick and the Swift was in flight. It climbed just high enough to skim through the tops of the large oaks at the beginning of the woods and he was clear and away. He make only one circle around and over the helpers, then he was away never to bring a swift back to the farm again.
I can only imagine how he felt for those few seconds of time. Maybe similiar to my unintential inverted spin in the Pitts.
The swift had hydraulic gear and flaps that only had up and down. Junior had figured out that if you turn off the master switch at just the right time you could get partial flaps a trick he used often.
Those leaves on the Oak trees at the end of the runway have seen numerous aircraft bellies over time.
Some too close for comfort. I myself have drug the wheels of a 172 through the PINE TREES.
— Bobby Renfrow, son of Effie Irene Stancil Renfrow
