F. Russom Ledbetter

FAMILY HERITAGE F. Russom Ledbetter, more widely known by his nickname "Rusty", was the handsome husband of beautiful wife Margaret Ludie Perkins Ledbetter and the proud father of 2 sons: Daryl Ledbetter and Dean Ledbetter. Born in the Curtis-Ledbetter House at Climax, Guilford County, North Carolina, located upon a fertile farm 21 miles southeast of county-seat Greensboro, unto parents Floyd E. Ledbetter and Jane Virginia Kendall Ledbetter, Rusty Ledbetter was the eldest of 4 children. The 3 siblings of Rusty Ledbetter were as follows: sister Julia Virginia Ledbetter and brothers, Herrick B. Ledbetter and Lynn L. Ledbetter. Rusty Ledbetter of Climax, NC and Margaret Ludie Perkins of Lawrence, Kansas, met in Summer 1937 at Pleasant Garden Methodist Church, Pleasant Garden, NC. Soon after her 1937 graduation from Liberty Memorial High School in Lawrence, KS, Margaret Ludie Perkins traveled via railroad passenger train, to visit several North Carolina and Virginia relatives of her father (Bertram Perkins) for the first time. During this fruitful, life-changing Kansas-to-North Carolina journey, she also fulfilled her destiny of meeting a future husband. Margaret Ludie Perkins returned to Kansas to attend the 1937 Autumn Semester at the University of Kansas (KU) and Rusty Ledbetter returned to daily duties in North Carolina, but neither forgot the other, as friendly sparks kindled in summer love grew into romantic flames in the months ahead. After an interstate, long-distance courtship, fortified by a half-year of cordial correspondence, Rusty Ledbetter and Margaret Ludie Perkins married upon 30 December 1937 in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas (near Kansas City). This 36-year marital union of Rusty Ledbetter and Margaret Ludie Perkins produced 2 sons: Daryl and Dean. Daryl chose not to have children. Dean sired a half-dozen precious children. Thus, the 6 dear grandchildren of Rusty Ledbetter and Margaret Ledbetter include 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. Also, the 6 dear great-grandchildren of Rusty Ledbetter and Margaret Ledbetter include 4 great-granddaughters and 2 great-grandsons. OUTSTANDING ATHLETE, SINGER & STUDENT The sport of baseball was a major passion in the life of Rusty Ledbetter, beginning in childhood with "cow-pasture" baseball on the Ledbetter Farm at Climax, North Carolina, and progressing to higher levels of baseball competition in youth and adulthood. Rusty Ledbetter became an outstanding baseball pitcher and power-hitter in high school, college, semi-pro and minor-league professional baseball leagues (spanning 3 decades: 1920s, 1930s & 1940s). After leading his Pleasant Garden High School baseball and basketball teams to Guilford County league championships, tall, muscular, big-boned Rusty Ledbetter was voted by classmates: Most Athletic Senior Superlative. Rusty Ledbetter was the winning pitcher in the baseball county championship game and the leading scorer in the basketball county championship game. Also excelling in musical talents, Rusty Ledbetter teamed with brother Herrick Ledbetter in a Pleasant Garden High School mixed quartet, which won second place in the North Carolina State High School Choral Contest. For many years, Rusty Ledbetter sang deep bass in numerous church choirs in North Carolina and South Carolina. He also loved barbershop quartet music, participating for several years as a member of SPEBQSA (Society for Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America). Rusty Ledbetter was a Rutherford College alumnus (1928-1930) and a triple-sport star athlete in baseball, football and basketball. In other college extra-curricular activities, Rusty Ledbetter was a member of the Rutherford College Glee Club (for music students) and the Rutherford College Platonic Literary Society (for Roman Latin language students). To help pay for his college education during the early years of the Great Depression, Rusty Ledbetter earned a partial athletic scholarship and was gainfully employed in on-campus work, while attending Rutherford College. Family loyalty called him home during the Great Depression. Rusty Ledbetter sacrificed finishing his college education to save the family farm and to pay for the college education of Julia Ledbetter, his younger sister attending Davenport Women's College. Rutherford College, which operated for 82 years (1853-1935) in the western North Carolina town also named Rutherford College, became a financial casualty of the deepening, worldwide Great Depression. Rutherford College and Weaver College sadly were forced to close; resources then were consolidated with Brevard Institute to form an upgraded Brevard College. VERSATILE VOCATIONS Rusty Ledbetter worked for many years in several different North Carolina textile apparel mills, including the following corporations: Hanes Hosiery, Burlington Industries, Moch-Judsen Voeheringer (later known as, Kayser Roth Hosiery), and Greensboro Full-Fashion Hosiery. Highly prized for his athletic skills, by colleagues and management of these textile mills, Rusty Ledbetter also earned extra pay, via playing semi-professional baseball during after-work hours. When his textile mill employment and semi-pro baseball playing ended, for subsequent career choices, Rusty Ledbetter followed 2 major vocations in life: farming and forestry. He often stated his heart-felt satisfaction: "I love to help make plants grow". In partnership with wife Margaret, Rusty Ledbetter owned and operated Hilltop Dairy Farm for 7 years (1943-1950). This 100-acre dairy farm fronted Eastway Drive and Independence Boulevard, at the eastern outskirts of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. In patriotic compliance with the 1940 Selective Service System federal conscription law, Rusty Ledbetter dutifully registered for the military draft on 16 October 1940 (more than a full year prior to the Japanese Attack on America at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. Rusty Ledbetter even sought to voluntarily enlist with the elite Leathernecks: United States Marine Corps. However, Rusty Ledbetter was repeatedly deferred from wartime military service. The reason for his repeated deferment was because Rusty Ledbetter (and wife Margaret) were substantially supporting the American war effort by supplying milk (an essential food commodity) from their Hilltop Dairy Farm to American soldiers and airmen of the U.S. Army Air Corps Douglas Airfield at Charlotte, North Carolina. During the latter part of World War II and post-war aftermath (1944-1946), Rusty Ledbetter supervised German Army Prisoners-Of-War on Hilltop Dairy Farm, under a P.O.W. wartime work-release program administered by the U.S. War Department. Soon after World War II ended in 1945, Rusty Ledbetter was federally employed (1946-1947), as a Vocational Agriculture Teacher for returning American War Veterans. This valuable instruction of Vocational Agriculture helped recently discharged American War Veterans transition into productive civilian life and occurred at Mint Hill High School, Mint Hill, North Carolina. Floyd Russom "Rusty" Ledbetter (1912-1990) Memorial Tribute Biographical Sketch Author: Dean Ledbetter Updated: 18 June 2019 (Rusty's 107th Birthday); 27 May 2019 (USA Memorial Day or Decoration Day); 10 April 2015 (Rusty's 103rd Birthday), 28 Jan. 2015, 7 & 29 July 2014 Created: 17 July 2011 Copyright (c) 2011-2019 by Dean Ledbetter; All Copyright Provisions Reserved (American & International)