William Thomas "Bill" Graham

1933 - 2025

William "Bill" Thomas Graham

Oct 24, 1933 - Apr 12, 2025

William T. Graham "Bill" beloved husband, father, and brother passed away on April 12th after a brief battle with cancer. Bill was born to James Monroe Graham and Virginia Goodwin in Waynesboro, VA on October 24, 1933. His life was a testament to preservation and politics.

Bill played football on a scholarship at Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, VA before attending Duke University where he majored in Economics. He met his wife Nancy Kent Hill of Winston-Salem on a double date at Duke and they married on Feb. 1, 1958 in Tokyo, Japan. After serving in the U.S Army where his duty stations included Japan and Hawaii, he attended the University of Virginia Law School.

Bill and Kent made Winston-Salem their home, though in the late sixties Bill's career took the family to Washington D.C where he served as Assistant General Counsel, U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. Upon returning to Winston, they purchased Kent's childhood home at 1000 Arbor Road. Later, Bill and Kent briefly resided in Raleigh, NC where he served as the N.C. Banking Commissioner and practiced law with Patton Boggs before returning to Winston-Salem to design the house of their dreams in Buena Vista in 1999.

Bills law career included criminal and civil litigation, bankruptcy, corporate, and tax law. He first practiced in Winston-Salem with Craige, Brawly, Horton and Graham (1962-69) in the Pepper Building; Billings and Graham (1970-75) in the Wachovia Building; Graham, Glenn, Crumpler & Harbegger (1979-81) in the Rogers House on Cherry Street. Bill continued to practice in the lovely, Victorian Rogers House until 1987. His love of historic preservation inspired his work to have the Rogers House placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bill's work in North Carolina as a Superior Court Judge (1975-79) included holding court in 93 of 100 counties in NC. Devoted to his family, Bill drove home from most counties each evening to be with Kent and their two children.

From 1963 until 1997, Bill was deeply involved in politics. He served on various Republican committees and political campaigns, holding leadership positions on local, state and national levels in 35-plus campaigns. His experiences included riding in Presidential motorcades, flying on Airforce One, State Dinner at the White House, and numerous Republican National Conventions. He was Chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party (1966-69) (1973-75); was appointed to the Forsyth County Board of Elections (1964-66); and became a Republican candidate for Mayor of WS in 1970. Listed in numerous editions of Who's Who in American Politics and American Law, Bill loved pontificating about politics, strategizing and reading – building an extensive political library over the years.

Well into his retirement he still practiced law and kept civic ties in Raleigh serving as Chair for the NC Institute of Constitutional Law and Board Member, Executive Committee Chair of the John Locke Foundation. Some of his civic duties, honors, awards and publications included: Chairman of the WS Preservation Committee, Crusade Chairman for the American Cancer Society, Triad Park Commission, BOD Money Transmitter Regulators Association, American Association of Mortgage Regulators, National Association of Consumer Credit, Board of Trustees Wake Technical Community College, Trinity College Board of Visitors, Governor's Highway Safety Commission, Beta Theta Pi District Chief, Wake Forest University Clinical Adjunct Professor and Judge, Trial Practice, and Committee Member National Conference of State Trail of Judges.

Bill was instrumental in helping Kent's family preserve and donate her father's farm to Forsyth County establishing the C.G. Hill Memorial Park in Pfafftown. His genealogy research was extensive on both sides of his family. Bill was a member of Centenary United Methodist Church, where he ushered and served as a member of the Board of Stewards.

Bill's near-legendary love of driving may have started during his college summer vacations when he worked as a taxicab driver in Waynesboro, Va. Early in their marriage, he and Kent purchased cars overseas – including a 1967 British Morgan and a Karmann Ghia – which they drove throughout Europe before dropping them off at a port to ship back to the US.

From sea to shining sea Bill loved driving trips, visiting 2882 counties in the United States! On one road trip with Kent, they crossed every bridge and took every ferry across the Mississippi River. After Kent's passing, he continued collecting counties, taking an extensive road trip with his daughter around Niagara Falls.

Always seeking warm weather, Bill took his family on Christmas vacations to St. Martin, Montserrat, several Caribbean cruises, Fort Lauderdale, and Belize. His children joked about driving on practically every road on every island they visited. He always took the scenic route including driving the entire Iceland Ring Road. Bill was an avid map collector and even devoted an entire room to showcase his extensive map collection.

Bill's international trips included visiting over 90 countries with friends, family, fraternity brothers and Duke Alumni – always competing with "collecting countries" with his son. Some of his adventures included mission trips with Centenary United Methodist to Honduras, Lithuania and Bolivia; and well into his eighties, he traveled by train all over all Northern India with a fraternity brother.

Bill was a loyal, witty, and devoted friend who remained very active in his Duke fraternity Beta Theta Pi. He organized Beta reunions in Winston-Salem, Durham, Fort Lauderdale, Santa Fe, Carmel, Baltimore, St. Augustine and Paris, France. He co-founded Beta newsletters, maintained a website and held an All-Duke Beta Tailgate Party annually before a football game. For years "Iron Dukes" Kent and Bill followed Blue Devil basketball at every opportunity from season games in Cameron, ACC Championships, March Madness, to Thanksgiving dinner with the team in Canada. He cherished all things Duke.

Bill was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Kent Hill Graham (2010); and son, William T. Graham Jr. (2024); and his dear friend and companion, Nancy Beals (2023). He is survived by his daughter, Ashton C. Graham (West Texas); brother, Jack Graham (Houston, TX); daughter-in-law, Cinny S. Graham (Winston-Salem) and numerous nieces and nephews. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him and loved him. We wish him eternal happiness on this, his greatest journey.

In lieu of flowers or a formal service, please consider a donation to help with ongoing preservation of C.G. Hill Memorial Park, ATTN: Chris Weavil, Parks & Recreation Director, 201 North Chestnut Street, WS NC 27101; or to Centenary United Methodist Church, ATTN: Bill Graham Memorial, P.O. Box 658, WS NC 27102-0658.

Salem Funeral Home

120 South Main Street, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101