Ray Spencer Triplett

Year Inducted: 2023

Ray Spencer Triplett was born in Wilkes County on November 4, 1930, to Arlon and Edith Foster Triplett.  He and his older brother Robert, who were seldom (if ever!) separated from each other, grew up together in Wilkesboro during the Great Depression and the early years of World War II, and they lived the life of small-town boys who reveled in adventure and mischief.  Stories of their boyhood exploits are the stuff of family legend.  Ray attended Wilkesboro High School and graduated in 1950, where he was president of the student body and a star athlete in football, baseball, and basketball.  In his final two years he played football for Wilkes County Hall of Fame member Marvin “Red” Hoffman in Coach Hoffman’s first two seasons as a coach in Wilkes County.  Ray scored 145 points for Coach Hoffman’s 9-2 Highland Athletic Conference Champion Ramblers in the 1949 season and became the first high school football player in the history of Wilkes County to be named to the All-State team.  He played in the 1949 North Carolina-South Carolina Shrine Bowl, where he caught a touchdown pass in North Carolina’s 20-7 victory over South Carolina.

Following the 1949 season, Ray was highly recruited across the South and received football scholarship offers to UNC-Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, Appalachian State (then Appalachian State Teacher’s College), and other schools.  He chose to attend Appalachian State because the love of his life, Nancy Garwood, whom he had known since childhood and who was the head cheerleader at Wilkesboro High School when Ray was playing football, was already in school there.  Ray and Nancy were married during Ray’s freshman year, in January of 1951, and he went on to letter in football and baseball at Appalachian State.  He also played semi-pro baseball for two years with a team in West Jefferson, North Carolina, but his football and baseball career were unfortunately slowed by a knee injury.  Ray graduated from Appalachian with a Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1954 and obtained his Master’s degree in education there in 1955.

Ray and Nancy moved back to Wilkesboro after Ray finished at Appalachian State, and in 1955 he was hired as a teacher and coach at the newly formed West Wilkes High School where he stayed for 10 years.  Ray was the first football and baseball coach at West Wilkes and also taught physical education and civics.  His football coaching career, spanning ten seasons from 1955 through 1964, set a standard of excellence at West Wilkes that has continued ever since.  Many outstanding athletes played under Ray, and his overall winning record through his ten seasons was capped by his 1963 team that finished 8-1-1, for which he was named the 1963 District 7-A Coach of the Year.  To the end of his life, Ray was affectionately known simply as “Coach” to the many players whose lives he impacted.

In 1965 Ray reluctantly left his coaching and teaching career behind and moved on to a new phase in his life.  He entered the business world, first with Nationwide Insurance and then with Lineberry Foundry & Machine Company in North Wilkesboro and its subsidiary company, McCrary Saw & Tool in Lenoir.  Ray was at Lineberry (later purchased by Vermont American Corporation) for 24 years where he worked with his Garwood brothers-in-law, Albert, John (also a Wilkes County Hall of Fame member), Charles, Joe, and Sonny.  As he did in every part of his life, he made numerous friends at Lineberry with whom he would always remain close.

In addition to his career in education and business, Ray was active in civic and public life. In 1977 he first ran for and won a seat as commissioner for the Town of Wilkesboro, and he was re-elected to that seat four additional times, serving a total of 18 years on the Wilkesboro town board with two of them as mayor pro tem.  He also served for 16 years on the Board of Trustees of Wilkes Community College as an appointee of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, and for 12 years he was a member of the Wilkesboro ABC Board, serving for six of them as chairman.  Other organizations Ray served with included the Wilkesboro Fire Department, the Wilkesboro branch of the Yadkin Valley Bank Board of Trustees, the Wilkesboro Lions Club, the Wilkesboro Business and Professional Men’s Club, and the John A. Walker Center Board.  Additionally, Ray was a proud member of Liberty Masonic Lodge in Wilkesboro from 1955 until the end of his life.

Of all Ray’s accomplishments and activities, however, perhaps none meant more to him than his family and church life.  He and Nancy were the proud parents of three children, Tony, Lynn, and Beth, all of whom grew up in Wilkesboro and attended Wilkesboro Elementary School, Wilkes Central High School, and Wilkesboro United Methodist Church.  Ray was a devoted member of the church and served at one time or another on virtually every committee there, including especially the Board of Trustees which he chaired for multiple terms.  For more than half a century he taught Sunday School, giving every single lesson a rich background of preparation and research.

Ray passed away on June 26, 2022, at the age of 91, fifteen years after his beloved wife Nancy.  The legacy of love and service he left to his family, his church, his town, his work, and his players and students at West Wilkes High School will live on for many years to come in the countless lives he touched.