Floyd Gilbert Bernhardt

SALISBURY - Mr. Floyd Gilbert Bernhardt, 68, of Salisbury, passed away Friday, May 6, 2011 at Rowan Regional Medical Center in Salisbury.

Born on Aug. 27, 1942, in Rowan County, Mr. Berhardt was the son of the late John Cecil Bernhardt and Ruth Canup Bernhardt.

He was a graduate of East Rowan High School and East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technologies. Mr. Bernhardt was a veteran of the United States Air Force and worked for Burlington Industries for 34 years where he worked up to Executive Vice President. He was a member of Shiloh Reformed Church in Faith, the American Legion and the Masonic Lodge.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Donna Joyce Ludwig Bernhardt, and brother, Phil Bernhardt.

Mr. Bernhardt is survived by his sons Van Bernhardt and wife Wendi of Lexington, and Britt Bernhardt and wife Christy of Ellenboro; brothers J.C. Bernhardt, Vernon Bernhardt and Claude Bernhardt; sisters, Barbara Deese, Judy Bernhardt, and Bonnie Lawlor; and four grandchildren.

Service: 11 a.m. Monday, May 9, 2011 at Shiloh Reformed Church in Faith conducted by Rev. Wayne Trexler. Burial will follow at the church cemetery.

Visitation: The family will receive friends from 4-6 p.m. Sunday, May 8, 2011 at Powles Funeral Home in Rockwell.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Shiloh Reformed Church Building Fund at P.O. Box 308 Faith, NC 28041.

1989 Bernhardt Reuion - St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Salisbury

Clonnie "David" Deese Jr.


SALISBURY - Clonnie "David" Deese, Jr., 69, passed away Sunday afternoon, March 13, 2011, at Rowan Regional Medical Center.

Born July 9, 1941, in Rowan County, he was the son of the late CD "Tom" Sr. and Lizzie Ludwig Deese. He was a 1959 graduate of Granite Quarry High School, a graduate of Salisbury Business College and a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

Mr. Deese served our country in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era and was an accountant and tax service preparer for more than 37 years, owning Deese Accounting and Bookkeeping.

David began playing and performing music at age 12 with his father, Tom Deese. His love of good music led him to become an accomplished professional bluegrass musician, playing his banjo for people such as Arthur Smith, Bill Monroe, Red Smiley, The Jones Brothers, Betty Fisher and the WBT Briarhoppers.

He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro, Ky., and was made a Kentucky colonel. He received several Lifetime Achievement Awards in North and South Carolina, including the N.C. Heritage Award.

Mr. Deese was also a member of Keller Memorial Lodge, Oasis Shrine Temple, Rowan Shrine Club and Order of Eastern Star in Rockwell.

Surviving family members include his wife, Barbara Bernhardt Deese, whom he married June 11, 1961; his daughter, Connie Dee Christman; his sister, Nina Deese Ridenhour and husband Don, both of Salisbury; grandchildren Connor Allen and Strider Lee Christman; and a number of nieces and nephews.

Visitation and Service: The family will receive friends Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. and Wednesday 2-3 p.m. at Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home in China Grove. Funeral will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home chapel, conducted by the Revs. William Ketchie and George Kluttz. Burial will follow in St. Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Memorials: May be made to Rowan Regional Hospice, 720 Grove St., Salisbury, NC 28144; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 205 St. Paul's Church Road, Salisbury, NC 28146; Shriner's Children's Hospital, P.O. Box 560666, Charlotte, NC 28256; Order of the Eastern Star Scholarship Fund, Attn: Fredia Nettles, P.O. Box 61660, Apex, NC 27502-9998; or to the donor's choice.

David Deese

Funeral Arrangements for David C. Deese, Jr.: husband of Barbara Bernhardt Deese.


Visitation will be held at Linn-Honeycutt (China Grove) from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15, and on Wednesday, March 16, at Linn-Honeycutt from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Funeral Service will be held at Linn-Honeycutt at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16, with Interment following the Funeral Service in St. Paul's Cemetery.

Bernhardt Clan About 1927

Ira Leo Family




Ira Leo Bernhardt Family circa 1930

Includes Martha Jane Brown Bernhardt, Maggie Parks Bernhardt, William and Eliza Parks plus children Crawford, Myron, Howard, Ruth, Charles and Roy Bernhardt.

Lonnie Cletis Bernhardt

Lonnie Cletis Bernhardt the son of Jacob Alphonso Bernhardt was one of 4 siblings: Lonnie was the oldest, then came Gussie, then Allie (“Al”), then Raymond and finally the youngest was Lillian. The only living descendants are from Lonnie and Al, as the rest either did not have kids (Gussie and Raymond) or all the children are gone (Lillian lost her girl at the age of 2 and her son Billy Thomas at midlife).

Al had one child (Shirley Bartlett) who now has grandchildren. But the rest of the descendants from Jacob Alphonso are all from Lonnie.

Jacob Alphonso, the father  (my grandfather), and his wife Ada (formerly Ada Meisenheimer) seemed to never get along. After being married a few years, they split up but didn’t divorce. Jacob Alphonso then went to live in a rail car at the Spencer Shops. People tend to think that his wife, Ada, was bi-polar although that term wasn’t even invented at the time. But her mood could be really up or really down, and when it was down, she could be a real nagger. On the other side, Jacob was the youngest of the kids from Laura Elizabeth Davis (JC Bernhardt’s first wife) and I learned from my aunts and uncles that he was doted on (some say “petted” too much) and thus was used to having his way. So it seemed that this union was doomed from the git-go.

The two eventually got back together and lived in a house in the city of Salisbury, beside of the residence where Ernest Theophilus lived. Uncle Ernest’s house is still there but the house where my grandpa and grandma lived is long gone.

Ada’s brother, Al Meisenheimer, had a farm on what is now St. Pauls Chruch Road. Al used to come to Salisbury to sell livestock and vegetables. My dad decided that he did not want to stay in his own house since his mom and dad fought all the time, so he followed Al all the way out to Town Creek one day as Al was heading back home. Al picked him up and put him in the wagon and my dad never went back home until he was a teenager. So Lonnie was actually raised on the Meisenheimer farm. My father wasn’t close to his dad, but I don’t think he hated him. Dad seemed to be able to see both sides in his parent’s arguments.

Later on, Jacob Alphonso and his wife split again and this time they divorced. Surprisingly Jacob never learned to drive a car until after he was divorced. He would take the trolley car to work (at Spencer) and back, and everything else he needed was close by in the city. But after the two split for good, Jacob Alphonso got his driver’s license and moved to South Carolina. He went to live in a boarding house.

Before he left Salisbury, Jacob Alphonso got my dad, Lonnie, a job in the Spencer Shops when my dad was only 17. Grandpa Jacob himself was a boilermaker at the shops. I had heard my grandpa talk many times of how you would take a flat piece of steel, drill holes in it, then curve it into the shape of a cylinder, rivet it together and then construct the boiler tubes. Since the Spencer Shops were a complete overhaul facility, they had a separate boiler building which meant that the shops were quite a big operation. 

Story told by Oleba Bernhardt Sebastian