DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711170249

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: HOBBSVLLE                         LENGTH:   47 lines

ROBERT B. HEWITT

The Rev. Robert Byrd ``Bobby'' Hewitt, 52, of Route 1, died Saturday, Nov. 15, 1997, in Louise Obici Memorial Hospital, Suffolk.

A native of the Newland section of Pasquotank County, he was the son of the late Mattie Irene Hewitt, who preceded him in death last Saturday, Nov. 8, 1997. A graduate of Campbell College and Southeastern Seminary, he began his ministry at Roanoke Island Baptist Church, Manteo, and later served concurrently as pastor of Hobbsville Baptist Church and Sandy Cross Baptist Church, both in Gates County. He had served many churches and missions as interim pastor and had served as the chaplain of Gates County High School and on the chaplain board of Chowan Hospital in Edenton. A member and past moderator of the Chowan Baptist Association, he had attended and been active in many N.C. Baptist State Conventions. Recently, he was serving as pastor of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Hertford and was the director of the Gates County Dept. of Social Services.

He was a member of Hobbsville Baptist Church, the Roanoke Electric board of directors, the First Citizens Bank board of directors (Sunbury branch), the Hobbsville Ruritan Club, the Gates County Task Force on AIDS, the Mill Creek Condo Association, the Gates County Community Resource Council, the Mentors and Adolescents Partnership Advisory Board. From its beginning in 1991, he had served as the chairman of the Gates County Swampfest, a county-wide festival that is attended by over 10,000 people annually. From 1988 until this season he announced the Gates County High School Barons home football games.

He was a former member and past president of the Gates County Rural Health Board, a former member of the Gates County Red Cross, the Council of Status of Women, the Gates Co. Advisory and Involvement Committee and had taught the ``I'm Special'' curriculum to Gates County fourth graders and religion classes at the College of the Albemarle Continuing Education Dept. He had served as a fundraiser for Chowan College in Murfreesboro.

Surviving are his wife, Carol Pritchard Hewitt; his daughter, Kimberly Hewitt, a student at East Carolina University in Greenville; his son, Stacy Hewitt of Chapel Hill; and his father-in-law, Calvin Pritchard of Elizabeth City.

A funeral will be conducted at 3:30 p.m. Monday in Hobbsville Baptist Church by the Rev. Steve Loftis and the Rev. Billy Presley. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Friends may join the family Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Miller Funeral Home, Gatesville, and other times at the residence.

Flowers will be accepted or memorial contributions may be made to The American Cancer Society. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

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