Rodney Winfred Gosnell
December 16, 1944 ~ April 16, 2007
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
RODNEY WINFRED GOSNELL
Rodney Winfred Gosnell, 62, of Olivette Road in Asheville, passed away Monday, April 16, 2007 at Memorial Mission Hospital.
A Buncombe County native, Mr. Gosnell was a son of the late Mims W. and Maude Jones Gosnell.
He retired after 28 years of service from UPS where he was a driver and was a member of Victory Baptist Church for 50 years.
Surviving are his wife, Karen Radford Gosnell; a son, Rodney R. Gosnell of New York City, NY; and a sister, Nancy Smith of Birmingham, AL.
A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday at the Groce Funeral Home chapel on Patton Ave. with the Rev. Larry Sprinkle officiating. Interment will follow at Ashelawn Gardens of Memory.
The family will receive friends from 12:30 - 2:00 pm at the funeral home prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Victory Baptist Church: 80 Olivette Road, Asheville, NC 28804.
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Our prayers are with you during this time.
Rodney will be greatly missed. He was a good person. We will miss seeing his smiling face around the community and church.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Gosnell Family.
We will miss Rodney and will think of him often. And when we do, the memories are sure to bring a smile.
To the family and many friends of Rodney, I am so sorry for your loss. He will be missed deeply. As a classmate of Rodney’s at Clyde A. Erwin High, it pains me to know that one of our graduates will not be with us at our reunions, dinners, etc. Life ended too soon for Rodney. I will miss his smile and great personality.
My deepest condolences,
Joyce Elkins Dover-Evans
I have known Rodney for all my life as his dad and mine worked together at CP&L. We went to school together since 1st grade. I’m so sorry for your loss. He was a fun person to be around and filled the room with his laughter.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Rodney’s family at this time. My dad and Rodney’s dad spent many hours fox hunting together. When one of our school pals and neighbors that grew up together on the same road departs us, we realized how short our life can be on this earth but as fellow Christians we can be together again.
Rodney and I lived near each other so sometimes we road the same evening school bus. Although he was a little older than me we became good friends. To Rodney’s family our prayers are with you. God Bless you and keep you in His arms.
I knew Rodney for several years as his UPS route included Henredon Furniture in Spruce Pine. I have missed seeing him every day since his retirement. My prayers are with the family. May God bless you and comfort you in this time of loss.
Although I have never met you, my prayers and sincere condolences are with you. I meet Rodney in 1972 – when I went to work at Henredon Furniture Industries in Spruce Pine. He was our UPS Driver. When I left Henredon in 1987 and went to work at DiCarve/Finishes First, we continued to be on Rodney’s UPS route until he retired. Rodney was always so conscientious about his work. He never wanted anyone to be upset or mad at him. If he just thought he had hurt someone’s feelings he always apologized. At times Rodney would come in our door singing a few bars of a gospel song… even the days he was so stressed out. Even now, seems like there is hardly a week that goes by that we don’t refer to Rodney in some way. To us Rodney will always be ‘Mr UPS’.
Karen: You are in my thoughs and prayers during your time of loss. May God keep you forever in his arms. Cathy Robinson
Karen and Rod,
We are so sorry for your loss. Rodney was such a big part of our lives. His sense of humor and laughter will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Love,
Andrea and Kevin
Rodney never met a stranger and would always stop and share a story each time we met. I will always remember his friendly nature and his love for all those he met. I know all of his customers must really miss seeing him on the UPS route. We will all miss Rodney as we have lost a friend. May God be closer to you and your family than ever. We will continue to lift you up in prayer.
Tony and Rhonda
I had the privilage of sharing
many fond memorys, and playing
football with the Big Guy.
I will miss him.
I had the privilage of sharing
many fond memorys, and playing
football with the Big Guy.
I will miss him.
Your family will will in our prayers. May God continue to keep His hands upon each of you. Love, Your friends at Victory Baptist Church.
We are very sorry to hear of
Rodney’s passing. He was always
very friendly and welcoming in our
Sunday School Class. You will be in our thoughts and prayers.
Very sorry to hear about your loss. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Karen, Rod and Nancy,
My thoughts go back to some wonderful memories of the Gosnell family. Certainly Rodney was most precious to us and we never saw him that he didn’t share a smile. Rodney will be missed greatly. I will certainly keep you in my prayers as you go through the most difficult times. Know you are loved. I am so sorry.
Rodney was a great neighbor. He will sure be missed in this neighbor hood. Our sincere sympathy to you and your family, Our prayers are with you. May God bless.
Karen and family,
I am sorry to hear of your loss. May God be with you in this your time of sorry. Your family will be in our prayers
Mattie DeBruhl
My thoughts and prayers are with your family.I worked with Rodney at UPS and knew him for 18 years. He was always nice to me and had a way of bringing out a smile when things were stressful for me at work. I will miss him dearly and will miss his smile. God Bless you Rodney.
Rodney and I grew up together and played sport at Erwin High in the mid sixties. I have nothing but fond memories of Rodney. He was a great guy and will be missed.
My prayers are with you in this time of grief and sorrow. My wife and I will keep you in our prayers.
May God be with you
Sincere condolences from Jean and Jesse at the Little Switzerland Post Office. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the family.
Karen and Family,
We are so sorry for your loss. We know this is an especially hard time for all of you. We will miss Rodney too. He was so much fun to talk with and he always made us laugh. We enjoyed the stories he told.
Karen and Family,
We would like to offer our deepest sympathy in this time of loss. I worked with Rodney for 23 years at UPS and would like to say that I have never worked with a more caring person than him. We will all miss him greatly.
I worked with Rodney for 12 years at UPS and had the pleasure of running the route beside him for his last 2. I’ll never forget his sense of humor, even when times were tough he always managed to smile. Rodney always gave 110%.
I will never forget him. Our prayers are with you, God bless you and your family.
I am so sorry to hear about Rodney. Although I had not seen him for along time, you never forget the ones you went to school with. My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
Karen and family,
I am so sorry to hear the news of Rodney’s passing. I will always have memories of him always wanting to talk to me about basketball at Erwin when I was younger. He really does make you smile when you think of him. Just what I knew of him at church, he was a character. May God Bless you and your family. You will all be in our prayers.
To The Gosnell Family;
We are sorry to hear Rodney’s passing. He will be missed in our
community. You are in our thoughts.
Eddie & Janice Crowder
Our hearts go out to your family during this difficult time. Each time we saw Rodney he always had a cheerful smile, even when he was on his lawn mower. Our community has
suffered a huge loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Rick & Denise Huntley
Karen and little Rodney, I have a lot of memories with Rodney as well with yall as well, whether it was at the lake when Kevin, and I were kids, or at church, we always had a good time. I will definitely miss his big smile, especially on sunday mornings when he came in the door where us ushers are always at. Please know that you are in our prayers, and that we love you.
Jason,April,Chance,Aiden,and Rylan Honeycutt.
Such good childhood memories with Rodney
I’ll never forget the good natured mischief always behind the smile on Rodney’s face. I never went away from a meeting with him that I didn’t have a smile on my face. He just had that uplifting effect on everybody. He was a ‘gentle giant’ and will be greatly missed. God’s Love to your entire family at this difficult time! Billy and Tommie Carter
After all those years of speaking with Mr. Gosnell over the telephone, I’m very glad we met in person last year. What a wonderfully nice man! So sorry for your loss. God bless…
i have nothing but great memories of rodney.went to erwin with him and played ball. he will be missed
I am so sorry for your loss. I work for Dr Merrill and we will certainly miss Rodney coming in to the office – always smiling. May God comfort and keep you at this time.
Karen,
As you know, I would be the first one to hear Rodney’s voice on the phone every day when he called you at work. I am sure he was telling you to have a nice day, that he loved you and that he would see you when you got home.
I know he is still wishing those same things for you and wanting you to know…’Karen, I will be here when you get to our heavenly home. I love you. Until then, be strong.’
Our sincere condolences with this unexpected loss. May the Lord bless you and may many happy memories give you strength and comfort in the days ahead.
Heinz and Thea Schiefer, neighbors of Nancy and George
My thoughts and prayers are with your family.
I knew Rodney at Erwin High. Rodney was one of the best liked and most respected people anyone could ever meet. A fine athlete and gentleman. My prayers go out for all of his family.
KAREN WE REALLY HATED HEARING ABOUT RODNEY. WE HAD SOME GOOD TIMES TALKING TO YOU AND HIM DOWN AT THE LAKE HE WILL SURELY BE MISSED BY EVEYONE AT THE LAKE. MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.JR. AND JUDY DUNCAN
To the Family,
I am saddened of the passing of my friend Rodney. I worked with Rodney for 6-7 years as a UPS package car driver and worked as his Business Agent at Local 61. I have a lot of respect for Rodney. He had a wonderful sense of humor and a tremendous work ethic. I know Rodney was a Christian and he was saved, he and I have talked about God. I know that he is with Jesus today but I am most saddened for his wife and family. I am sorry I was unable to attend the services due to being out of town on Union business. God bless you,
Brian Ball
So sorry to learn of Rodney’s passing. I treasure the memories of Rodney playing softball at Victory Baptist! No one would dare try and steal home! And I cherish the memory of Rodney singing in the choir. But most of all, I keep envisioning his contagious smile and his spirit. And as Rodney has now entered the safety of Heaven, I am sure he has discovered all the backroads of Heaven, too! Thank you, God, for allowing Rodney’s life to intersect with ours. We are better people because of it! Blessings and prayers to Karen and the family.
Dear Gosnell family,
We are saddened to hear about Rodney’s passing away. I grew up with Nancy as one of my best friends and Rodney was always the little brother (read ‘pest’) who trailed after us!! :-)) I’m the daughter of Burgin and Willie Wright. My Dad and Wink Gosnell were very close friends.
We know you will miss him. Just cherish the wonderful memories you have of him.
Take care.
May God comfort you.
Much love, Jeanette Wright Parham
703-323-5990 5358 Gainsborough Dr. Fairfax, VA 22032-2741
I feel a lot of saddness now. I will not see your husband working in the yard driving by on my way home. I live next to Farm Rd and did not hear about his departure till yesterday. May God be with you and your son at this time. I am still dealing with the death of my brother last year at 56 years old with a bleeding stroke. Please stay close to your friends and love ones. There is a saying from A. Schweiter, The only things that count in life are the imprints of love which we leave behind us afterwe are gone. Remember that as I will in my loss. Your neighbor on Olivete, Parry Rogers
It has been 14 years since Rodney’s death and I still think of him often. I’ll never forget the fun we would have every Thanksgiving morning when we’d go to the Lion’s Club turkey shoot. The stories we could tell. I loved Rodney and Karen is still one of the sweetiest ladies I have ever met. Everyone, please accept Jesus as your Savior and we’ll see Rodney again!! GOD bless.