James Lowell Campt, Jr., 98 of Stoneville, NC passed Friday, July 7, 2023.
Public viewing will be held Friday, July 14, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. ~ 7:30 p.m. at Perry Spencer Funeral Home, Madison, NC. The family will receive friends from 1:30 p.m. ~ 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 15, 2023 at St. Stephens United Methodist Church, Madison, NC with funeral service beginning at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Woodland Cemetery, Madison, NC.
Livestream: https://youtube.com/@Perry-Spencer-Live
The first child of Lowell Mason and Gladys Carter Campt was born James “Junior” Lowell Campt in Madison, NC on June 2, 1925. In 1943, James graduated from Rockingham County’s segregated Charles Drew High School. IN the middle of his freshman year at North Carolina A&T State University, He was drafted and served in the 655th Ordinance Company, a segregated unit of the Army Air Corps. This unit operated as a supply chain on the front lines of the Allied invasion of Europe. Although Black units were not sent into battle, James was forced to take up arms when his unite came under direct attack during the Battle of the Bulge.
Alfter three years of military service, James returned to Madison in 1947. James was one of the tiny number of black veterans who were allowed to access resources from the G. I. Bill, and he re-enrolled at North Carolina A&T, where he studied electrical engineering. His entrepreneurial sprit emerging, he opened and for two years operated a restaurant in Madison called Community Kitchen. In addition, he worked odd jobs to pay his way through school. During his sophomore year, a housekeeper who also worked at the home where James tended the gardens thought that he should meet her daughter, Geraldine. James was fond of saying that, soon after they met, the strength of their attachment persuaded Geraldine to “shake all the other suitors loose.” They were engaged for six years before they married in June, 1953.
Immediately after their wedding, James and Geraldine followed the path of his sister Joan and moved to Detroit, Michigan. Although unfair obstacles kept him from getting a job using all of his engineering training, he was able to get work as an automotive manufacturing technician. For 32 years at Ford Motor Company, he set precise gear tolerances that allowed millions of transmissions and other car parts to be created and safely driven.
In Detroit, the family also adopted their beloved son David in 1962 when their son was four months old; James always said that David chose them.
James was a leader of the Detroit Chapter of the A&T alumni association and planned social events for the Knights of templar, an African American Masonic organization. He was cited by the chief police in 1983 for his work in founding and managing neighborhood watch groups. In addition, he fixed televisions, sold household cleaning products and supplies discounted cigarettes (purchased on regular visits to North Carolina) to fellow factory workers.
James and Geraldine retired to the Piedmont region of North Carolina in 1986 to be close to their elderly parents. Much of their leisure time was spent traveling the Carolinas and surrounding states in their family tradition of camping, which was an unusueiral vacation activity for Black families in their earlier years.
Once back in North Carolina, James a leader in his Masonic Lodge, the Order of the Eastern Star, and a trustee at his church. Those who knew him that close behind his passion of his wife was his love of golf. He regularly won first prizes at Senior Games tournaments of bowling and ping-pong.
James and Geraldine loved fellowship and celebrating; they held a large party on their 35th anniversary. They renewed their vows in large events on both their 50th and 60th wedding anniversary. The latter anniversary, June 7, 2013, was also the day their son became married.
James’ dedication to his wife became even more plainly evident after 2012, when Geraldine became paralyzed as a result of a botched surgical procedure. The last several years of their life together included daily visits by their son (who like James and Geraldine, had relocated to look after beloved elders), vacations and concerts and a continuation of their long-time practice of dancing in the living room despite Geraldine’s paralysis and James amputation.
Jame is survived by his son, David Wiley Campt (Stoneville, NC), daugher-in-law, Dr. Vietta Johnson (Chicago, IL) and her daughter, Arnai Johnson (Chicago, IL). Among his loving nieces and nephews are Carl Woolfolk (Detroit, MI) and his wife Karen; Wanda Woolfolk Van Horne, Gladys Woolfolk Summers, Kim Woolfolk Moore and Tracye Woolfolk Mathis (Detroit, MI), Crystal Campt Arthur (Washington, DC), Dr. Tina Campt (Princeton, NJ), Mike and Lorene Scales of Mayodan, NC and Diana Muhammed Collins of Sylva, NC.
Perry – Spencer Funeral Home, Inc
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