Talmage Newton Penland

Talmage Newton Penland, Asheville attorney and community leader, passed away on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the WNC Baptist Home.

The youngest of seven children, Talmage was born January 23, 1930, in Hayesville, NC, to James and Iola Penland. When he was eight, he and his family moved to Asheville where his father pursued a career with the state as a rehabilitation counselor, the first blind person to hold this position. Yet, Talmage never lost his love of his birthplace and years later built a vacation home on Lake Chatuge in Hayesville where he and his family would marvel at sunsets, cozy up by campfires, and watch in awe as eagles soared across their cove.

Talmage was a 1949 graduate of Lee H. Edwards High School. While in junior high, he met the love of his life, Helen Elizabeth Turner. Both attended Mars Hill College and during that time were married March 18, 1951, at West Asheville Baptist Church. They then attended Appalachian State University where Talmage earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Spanish.

Upon graduation, he taught in the Buncombe County School System and at Lee Edwards, followed by 13 years as an insurance adjuster. It was during that time that Talmage and Helen’s family expanded with the 1954 birth of their eldest daughter Rebecca “Becky” and in 1956 their daughter Cynthia “Cricket.”

In 1968 the family moved to Durham where in 1971 he earned his law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. Upon returning to Asheville to practice law, the family was blessed with two more children, Danny and Diana. Talmage practiced law for 46 years, retiring in 2017.

Talmage was a dedicated and energetic community leader. For 30 years he served on the Board of Trustees of Asheville Buncombe Community College and was Chairman of the Board for two terms. He was president of the NC Community College Trustee Assn. and served on the National Trustee Association Board. In 1998, he was awarded the NC Association of Community College Trustee’s highest honor, the I.E. Ready Award, for “his outstanding leadership in developing support for the North Carolina community college system.” He also served as chairman of both the Buncombe County Board of Elections and the Buncombe County Democratic Party.

Always active in church, Talmage served as music minister at Baptist churches in Asheville and Durham. He was a deacon at West Asheville Baptist Church and, more recently, First Baptist Church of Asheville.

Friends and family will remember him as an intelligent, patient, and generous man. For him, his legal practice was a way to give to the community his time and legal expertise, with no expectation of compensation from those unable to pay. Talmage was proud of his family history and loved regaling the younger generation with the accomplishments and antics of their ancestors. He was a respected mentor to his many nieces and nephews. And, he could make a mean cream gravy on Christmas morning.

Talmage is preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Helen Elizabeth Turner Penland; his daughter, Cynthia “Cricket” Penland Trisdale, his brothers, Eugene, Cecil and Buford Penland, and his sister, Elvita Setzer.
He is survived by his brother, Phillip Penland, of Asheville; sister, Alice Robin Fraley, of Leicester; daughter, Rebecca Penland McCurry (Elvis), of Black Mountain; son, Daniel James Penland (Dottie), of Asheville; daughter, Diana Penland Allison (Dennis), of Gaffney, SC; granddaughter, Allison Carolina Fulkerson (Ben), of Bethpage, TN; and great-grandchildren, Gavin Penland, Kiernan Penland, Solara Penland, Christian Allison, Haley Allison, Ricky Allison, Kelly Allison, Cody Allison, Kira Noble, Kolby Noble, Rose Fulkerson and Rhett Fulkerson.

The family would like to express a special word of appreciation to June Langley, who for the past 26 years was an integral part of Talmage and Helen’s life. June tirelessly and selflessly sustained Talmage with the love and care of a truly great friend. For this, the family will be forever grateful.

Funeral services will be at 3:00 p.m. Thursday in the Patton Avenue chapel of Groce Funeral Home with the Rev. Dr. Mack Dennis officiating. Interment will follow at Green Hills Cemetery.

The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the State School for the Blind: The Governor Morehead School, 2303 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699.