Erwin Gant Burhoe

Erwin Gant Burhoe, age 93, was born on April 6, 1921 in Burlington N.C. to Agnes Moffett Ravenel Gant and Roger Gant. She is preceded in death by her son Donald Ingram Burhoe, Jr., her husband Donald Ingram Burhoe, her sister Agnes Ravenel Gant Harrison, and her brother Roger Gant, Jr. She was a former resident of Park Road in Biltmore Forest and of Burnsville. Surviving family members include four daughters, Erwin Burhoe Gunnells and husband Jimmy, of Asheville; grandchildren, John Homer Byrd III, and wife, Vanessa Cram Byrd, and their two sons of Asheville, Corinna Erwin Byrd and husband, David Sims, and their two children, of Durham, and Margaret Adger Byrd and husband, Judson Bledsoe, and their daughter, of Wilmington; daughter, Mary Burhoe Gillam, husband, Thomas Scott Gillam, Jr., of Asheville; grandsons Thomas Scott Gillam III of Elon, Donald Ingram Gillam of Hickory, Francis Burhoe Gillam and wife, Anne Elizabeth Franklin Gillam, and their son of Blacksburg, Virginia; daughter, Janet Burhoe-Jones and husband, James Munroe Jones, granddaughter, Josie Daniels Doak and her husband, Hoyt Buchannan Doak IV, and their son of New Bern, NC, granddaughter, Janet Burhoe Daniels; daughter, Agnes Burhoe Powell and husband, William Luther Powell, II, of Windsor, NC, granddaughter, Agnes Powell Zamir and husband, John Zamir, and their daughter, of Santa Barbara, CA, granddaughter, Ella Julia Powell Forehand and husband, Jamie Scott Forehand, and their daughters, of Hampstead, NC, and granddaughter, Mary Powel Tavel and husband, Sebastien Tavel, of Alexandria, VA. She attended public schools in Burlington, and graduated from St. Mary's School for Girls in Raleigh and from Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans. During the Second World War she helped design airplanes for the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company in Baltimore, where she met her husband, an officer stationed there with the U.S. Coast Guard. The couple moved to Burnsville in 1949, where they raised their family. He worked for and eventually became manager of The Glen Raven Mills textile plant. She was active in many civic and charitable organizations, particularly the Girl Scouts and her church. She led troops locally and represented the Pisgah District regionally. She and her family were faithful members of First Presbyterian Church where she served as Chair of the Building Committee. Additionally, she was Yancey County's representative for the NC School of the Arts. In 1970 the family moved to Asheville where she was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, the Children's Welfare League, the Biltmore Forest Country Club, and Biltmore Forest Garden Club. In private life, she was an artist, working in many mediums, a writer of humor and light verse and a gardener. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am Saturday, January 10th at Trinity Episcopal Church, A reception will follow in Tuton Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Deerfield Employees Appreciation Fund, 1617 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803 or to Trinity Episcopal Church, 60 Church Street, Asheville, NC 28801.