Dr. Robert Felts Sloop, Jr., 89, of Wilson, died peacefully at home surrounded by family on March 3, 2024.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 2 PM at First Presbyterian Church of Wilson. Rev. Nick Demuynck will be officiating, and the family will receive friends in the church parlor after the service.

Dr. Sloop was born in Aliceville, Alabama in 1934 to the Reverend Dr. Robert Felts Sloop, Sr. and Marie Northrup Sloop. He spent his youth in Alabama, and his summers were spent working on his grandfather's dairy farm in Rowan County in Mt. Ulla, NC. There he learned responsibility at a young age and developed a strong work ethic, along with a deep love of the land. He followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and attended Davidson College where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order and graduated in 1955. He then matriculated at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill where he met his future wife Dolores "Pete" Cash, RN during his surgical rotation. He was married and graduated from medical school in 1960 before receiving a direct commission to join the US Air Force as a medical officer. He served as a Captain in the USAF during the early 1960's at Vandenberg AFB in California and Homestead AFB in Florida. He completed his medical and surgical training in Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia in 1967 and then joined the physician staff at the Wilson Clinic, a multispecialty group practice in Wilson, NC. He was dedicated to his patients who loved him in return, and he served the people of Wilson and surrounding counties for 37 years before retiring at the age of 70.

Dr. Sloop was a devoted husband to his wife and father to his three children. He had a lifelong passion for choral music and sang as a member of the First Presbyterian Church choir in Wilson for 56 years. He sang locally with the Wilson Chorale and with the NC Master Chorale in Raleigh, NC. Later in life he participated in the Berkshire Choral Festival in Massachusetts and performed in cathedrals in Canterbury, England and Salzburg, Austria. Dr. Sloop achieved his dream of flying airplanes when he earned a private pilot license with both instrument rating and multi engine rating. He was always active in individual sports including bicycle racing and running marathons as a younger man, and later in life he was a member at the Wilson YMCA and regularly walked his dog. He was a lifelong fan of UNC Basketball. Dr. Sloop cultivated a large tomato garden each summer and gave generously to neighbors, and he enjoyed food and fellowship with many wonderful friends in his coffee group after his retirement from his medical practice.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dolores C. Sloop; sons Robert F. Sloop III of Melbourne, FL and David W. Sloop (Kristen) of Raleigh, NC; daughter Dr. Catherine Sloop Steffee (Dr. Craig Steffee) of Farmville, NC; grandchildren Robert F. Sloop IV (Jenny), Elizabeth Sloop, John Sloop, Eliza Sloop, Katherine Sloop, and Caroline Steffee; and sister Hanna S. Atkinson of Tarboro, NC.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, PO Box 3184, Wilson, NC 27895.

Arrangements by Wilson Memorial Service, 2811 Fieldstream Drive N, Wilson, www.wilsonmemorialservice.com, (252) 237-7171

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Published by The Wilson Times from Mar. 6 to Mar. 9, 2024.