LOTTSBURG—James Robert Eury passed away peacefully in Lottsburg on the evening of Wednesday, January 2, 2019. Jim’s family and loved ones were at his bedside.
Jim was the heart and soul of his family. The person who would always stop what he was doing to answer a question, go for a walk, bait a hook, go water skiing, fix the computer, print a photograph, provide a shoulder to cry on.
He was a dear friend, a worthy opponent in a game of gin rummy—which he often won, a painter, a beekeeper, a man who loved living near the water and being out in his boat. Jim Eury was an artist with his camera, as well as his brush. He left us unforgettable images of life in the Northern Neck.
Jim and his family were “come heres” to the Northern Neck for 25 years before retiring to Lottsburg full time in 2005. From then on, he was a rock-solid “stay here.”
Jim was generous with his time and talents. He was a natural teacher. He taught gin to anyone with any “card sense”…even some with no card sense. He taught pickleball to new players at the YMCA in Kilmarnock and Northumberland County. A former professional photographer, Jim served as the official photographer for the Westmoreland Players, the YMCA in Northumberland and the Northern Neck Master Gardeners.
Jim had a life-long love of pitching horseshoes. He was the Virginia Senior Games Champion for three straight years, and placed eighth at the National Senior Games Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., in 2015.
Born and raised in Charlotte, N.C., Jim graduated from Harding High School and attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He worked for WSOC-TV, the ABC-News Affiliate in Charlotte, as a reporter and photographer.
During the Vietnam War, Jim enlisted in the Army and attended the prestigious Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California. He became a Thai and Laotian linguist and worked for the U.S. Army Security Agency. After serving in Thailand and Laos during the Vietnam war, he was recruited by NBC News to become a combat photographer in Vietnam. In this role, he received an Emmy Award for the 1967 documentary, Same Mud, Same Blood – Race in the Vietnam War.
He continued his award-winning photography career back in the U.S. and received a 1973 Peabody Award for his work on the documentary, Overture to Friendship: the Philadelphia Orchestra in China. In 1977, he moved to Washington, D.C., and founded the Capitol Hill-based Washington Independent Television, a television news bureau serving network news stations across the country.
Jim was a living example of someone who didn’t “act his age.” In 1988, he found his true calling. He put aside his television career and he took up the training to become a physical therapist, graduating at the age when most people are about to retire.
Jim worked at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., and The Orchard in Warsaw.
Jim’s life was ordinary. Yet, as consequential as the sun coming up each day. He is gone from us now and leaves behind a broken-hearted family.
Jim was the son of the late Robert and Mildred Eury.
He leaves behind his wife of 34 years, Carolyn Gorman; his daughters, Anna Grant and Jennifer Eury of Centreville; his son-in-law, Richard Grant; grandchildren, Ava Rose Grant and Julia Grace Grant; devoted stepchildren, Andrea Hardy of Evergreen, Colo.; and Stephen Gorman of Charlottesville and daughter-in-law, Alexandra Pratt Gorman and their children, Stephen Hardy, Katherine Hardy, Isabella Gorman, Jolyon Gorman and Ashley Gerber.
In lieu of flowers, you may donate to “The Strings Crewe,” a scholarship program for children in the Northern Neck who are receiving free instruments and lessons for violin and cello. Donate at http://rappahannockconcerts.org/strings_crewe/; or send a check made out to “RCA Crewe,” P.O. Box 342, Heathsville, VA 22473.
Welch Funeral Home-Marks Chapel of Warsaw handled the arrangements.
