William Wayne Partin

William Wayne Partin was born October 18, 1950, in Durham, NC. He graduated from Durham High School and later attended Sandhills Community College before graduating from Appalachian State University in 1975. He leaves behind a wife of 48 years (Pam Partin), his sister, (Donna Partin), two sons, (Justin and Derek Partin), and four grandchildren (Harper, Briggs, Brooklyn, and Caleb Partin).

Will always appreciated obituaries that didn’t stick to the conservative script and opened up about the person with some humor. It is with that background that we present to you an obituary that we think Will would be proud of.

Will went by many names to many different people. Each of these names often reflected on the type of relationship he had with those people as noted below.

William - Only a handful of family members called him William. His mom, a woman known by her grandchildren as Big Momma, is who called him by his full name the most. In her Bahama, NC accent she would exclaim “Wiyam!” with a face full of excitement few could match when she saw him. She had a large belly laugh that could fill the room that often came out while hearing stories being told by her son – William. She is no doubt waiting open arms to exclaim his name again – “Welcome home Wiyam!”.

Will - if you knew him as Will then you likely did business with him. I often refer to him as the Ultimate Entrepreneur. He created several successful businesses over his lifetime when most people are afraid to take that leap of faith to start one. He started his first business, Carolina First Aid Medical, to get off the road and be closer to home for his first child. For 42 years, CFA Medical thrived helping to provide medical products to school nurses and athletic departments all over the southeast. The family thanks all of CFA’s past customers for their business over these 42 years.

There are other great business stories like when he bought the rights to a chemical formula that could kill the MRSA virus. The original intent was to sell to High Schools who were having MRSA outbreaks on their wrestling mats. It was later found that it could be aerosoled and became the go to product to clean our nations prisons during COVID.

But not all of his business ideas were home runs (pun intended). He developed a batting glove in the early 90’s that added the vibration dampening properties of a jack hammer glove. It was his son’s favorite batting gloves growing up and he had two major college programs at the time sign up (Miami and LSU). When he was coming up for the name for the gloves – he decided to call them Killer gloves because you could “kill” the baseball with them. So, what went wrong? Not to make light of a dark situation, but some of you may see the mid 90’s timing and realize the OJ trial came in the mid 90’s. Having a batting glove called Killer Gloves wasn’t great. Dad ended up selling the patent to Easton and you can find that technology today in their batting gloves they market as “Work Gloves”.

If you knew him as Willie you were likely family, close friends, or lifelong college buddies. Willie was the life of the party and loved having a good time. If he wasn’t telling the story, he was likely in the story being told. His sons learned early on that when stories were being told between his college buddies that they never used names. Over the years his sons have been able to piece together who did what – but needless to say, he and his Sandhills and App State buddies enjoyed college. Some stories that come to mind are:

The time he snuck into a James Brown concert in High School.The many hours spent tailgating at App State games (with lifelong friend Robert McLamb yelling Louis Louis at band members as they walked by). It was always entertaining hearing grown men second guess 3-time national championship winning coach Jerry Moore.Stoneybrook stories – I have been told some stories need not be retold.

I’m sure many of you have your own story of Willie, but I can bet as you close your eyes and think of those stories – you can see a big smile on his face. He loved life and made sure he reveled in his joyfulness.

Granddad - There are four young kids that knew him as Grandad. He loved being a Grandad and wanted to hear all about the kids games and how they were doing in school. Often times after a big game the kids would want to call to tell him about the triple they hit, or the game they pitched. He loved those kids and was so appreciative he was able to live long enough to meet and interact with his youngest Grandson, Caleb. Some of the families favorite pictures of him are when he is holding the newborns at the hospital with happy tears streaming down his face. He was never bashful about showing emotion.

Dad - Two lucky boys were able to know him as Dad. And what a great Dad he was. He showed them (not just told them) that openly showing emotion was ok and shouldn’t be shied away from. He was adamant that community service is important and served on many community boards including our local little league (Northwest Forsyth American Little League) and basketball leagues (WCCC). He also volunteered to make our little league fields in top shape. There are many funny stories about the days at the little league including the time he thought it was a good idea to put his oldest son on the tractor at 10 years old without showing him that there was a left and right break that has to be pressed at the same time. After many right and left abrupt turns as only one break pedal was pressed, he was able to finally get the tractor stopped before a fence was harmed. Or the time he knocked himself out cartoon style by stepping on a rake. But one of the biggest things Dad did for his two sons was to show them how to be a great Dad. One of the greatest compliments someone can pay a fatherly figure is to call them a good Dad…and our Dad was a great Dad.

Hubby - There is one more person that knew him by a different name. Mom called him Hubby for 48 years. Both Pam and Will showed their boys what real love should be. A healthy marriage where a voice was never raised and a problem never went unsolved together. The boys are so thankful to have two parents that loved each other and raised them in a peaceful and loving home. As you grow up in life you begin to look at your childhood through a different lens. We see the Rock that my mom has been this last year and it underscores the vows that we take when we get married: through sickness and in health.

Will was always direct in that he wanted this day to be a joyous and happy celebration. Thank you for reading about William Wayne Partin and his life. I hope some of these stories about him has brought a smile to your face. If you would like to share more stories and laughter about his life, please join the family on Sunday, October 26th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM for a visitation and Celebration of Life. This will be located at the Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home in Lewisville, NC.

Flowers will be accepted by the family there at the funeral home, but we do encourage donations to be made in his name to the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission (www.wsrescue.org) for those that wish to donate instead.