Alan Robert Eisele

Alan Robert Eisele of Statesville – Army veteran, retired businessman, former lawyer, actor, singer, competitive game-player, and inveterate raconteur – died at home on Saturday, June 13, of an apparent heart attack. Alan’s death followed a decade of mounting health challenges amid a robust life of adventure, most notably with his devoted and patient wife and occasional performance partner, Bonita, whom he treasured. He was two weeks shy of 82.

The youngest of six rambunctious boys in a family of 11 Eisele children, Alan was born June 29, 1944 at Statesville’s former H.F. Long Hospital, the son of the late Emmett George and Corinne Kindler Eisele. The next year the Eisele family moved from an increasingly crowded house on Oak Street to 502 S. Mulberry Street, a stately home destinated to become a hive of activity and conviviality – the scene of many later festive gatherings Alan and Bonita hosted cheerfully.

One night about 2 a.m. after an evening of mischief, young Alan climbed a fig tree to reach the home’s back porch roof so he could sneak into the boys’ bedroom through an open window. When he climbed in, he landed on top of his brother John. “I stepped down on him and he grabbed me, and we started fighting,” Alan recalled. “He was scared to death that somebody was coming to get him. I was just trying to get into the house unseen.”

Alan graduated in 1962 from Statesville High School, where he distinguished himself as drum major and prankster. Alan attained his band rank one day when he arrived late to practice, sliding in sideways on a motors scooter, whereupon band director Jim Calabrese pronounced: “There’s my drum major.” Alan’s high school yearbook photo captioned said: “Never a dull moment. An irresistible personality. When one’s work interferes with one’s play, work can come another day. Natural-born lover. Mr. Drum Major. Always ready with a smile and a song.”

After high school, Alan was sworn into the United States Army by his older sister, Lt. Delores (Dodie) Eisele. Alan served as an intelligence officer in the Army for three years, reaching the rank of SP5, before attending The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There Alan earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1968 before obtaining a UNC law degree in 1972. While a student, Alan and his first wife, the former Pamela Ritchie, welcomed into the world their son, Jason. The couple would divorce in 1978 after 12 years of marriage.

After law school, Alan joined the Statesville firm of his attorney older brother, Doug. As much as Alan admired his brother, he found the staid practice of law unfulfilling. But Alan’s legal sojourn introduced him to his future wife, Bonita, who was then the legal assistant to another lawyer in the firm. Alan mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Iredell County District Court judge in 1978, but few candidates ever enjoyed campaigning more than Alan.

After relinquishing his law practice, Alan moved through a series of business ventures: in a local equities firm with his brother Jim, as founder of Honeybee Realty, and as a condominium salesman in Surfside, N.C., Cherry Grove, S.C., Hilton Head, S.C., and Banner Elk, N.C.

Alan married the former Bonita West Hayes on October 3, 1981, in the best venture he ever conceived. They lived at a farm off Chipley Ford Road north of town. Bonita soon opened a Statesville alteration and consignment store. Later she and Alan formed Medi-Garb, a company that produced specialty wear for nursing mothers. Bonita made the garments, and Alan managed the company.

In 1985, after the death of Eisele matriarch Corinne “Ganky” Eisele, Alan and Bonita bought the family home on Mulberry Street, keeping the house in the ever-expanding family, which by then included 37 cousins. Over the years, the duo hosted innumerable Christmas parties, Halloween parties, open houses, and impromptu gatherings that added to their renown and the home’s lore. They also enjoyed frequent gatherings with Bonita’s large and tight-knit family.

An amateur actor, Alan performed in many plays at Statesville Little Theater, often in lead roles. He once played the pharaoh in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” in which his character sang like Elvis Presley.

That inspired Alan to play Elvis at a Halloween party, wearing a white jumpsuit Bonita had made for him. Then a friend seeking entertainment for a March of Dimes fundraiser asked Alan if he would play Elvis. Thus began a decades-long string of Alan’s Elvis performances at charity events, paid gigs, and family weddings, where his brothers Jim and John often served as his black-clad bodyguards.

“Alan was an entertainer at heart,” Bonita said. “He loved an audience. He loved people, and he would talk to a tree.”

Bonita sometimes joined Alan in public singing. The shy West Virginia native often got requests to cover Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn, but Lori Morgan was more her speed.

“We try to maintain a good balance in our lives between running our businesses, spending time with family, working in the community, and our entertaining,” Alan wrote in a 1997 high school reunion booklet. “Our lives could not be better.”

Alan maintained a flair for the dramatic throughout his life. Acting once as master of ceremonies at a dance recital, he wore a white tutu over his tuxedo.

“Dad was always on stage, whether at a restaurant or during a performance,” his son Jason recalled. “We’d go to a restaurant and it would take 30 minutes to sit down because he knew everybody there, and he had to talk with them all.”

Alan’s granddaughter Jordan recalled his near-constant singing. “When I was little, he wouldn’t talk to me – he would sing,” she said.

Alan and Bonita lived in the Eisele family home for 34 years before selling it in 2019. The home is back in the family. Alan joined dozens of other family and friends for a party there last Christmas, where he told this joke about his parents rearing 11 children: “I found out why that was,” he said. “Mother had kind of a hearing problem. When they’d go to bed at night, Daddy would say, ‘Well, do you want to go to sleep, or what?’ And she would say, ‘What?!?’ ”

As so often before, Alan’s humor brought the house down – this time, the Eisele house.

Health was not Alan’s strong suit. In mid-life he overcame personal demons, and then helped others recover. He suffered heart disease, had a heart attack in his 40s, barely survived a severe motorcycle wreck in 2007, was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, underwent triple-bypass open-heart surgery in 2016, and endured several subsequent operations. He was in and out of hospitals periodically after that, buoyed by a will to live life to the fullest without complaint.

Recent years brought Alan closer to his Catholic faith, and he attended mass daily. He mellowed and grew in compassion as he deepened spiritually, Bonita observed.

“It was just amazing how he kept coming back,” she said. “One of our friends nicknamed him ‘Iron Man,’ and it stuck. But his body was just so tired, he couldn’t do it anymore. His body was ready to go; his mind and heart would have gone on forever.”

Preceding Alan in death were his parents and eight of his 10 siblings: Barbara Blood, Carolyn Brawley, Dodie Sink, Phyllis Smith, David Eisele, Doug Eisele, Jim Eisele, and Pris Kimel. Surviving him are Bonita, his wife of 45 years; his son Jason, of Statesville; his granddaughter Jordan Alise Chapman, of Troutman; and great-grandchildren Cage, Landen, and Rhyne Chapman.

Blessedly, Alan’s last day was among his best. He had breakfast with his eldest nephew, Donald Blood. He attended mass at his home church, Saint Philip the Apostle. He stopped by the downtown Statesville Historical Collection to enjoy lively music and friendly conversation. Then he spent his final hours at home with his beloved Bonita. He was resting comfortably when his heart attack struck. EMS efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

In the warm late afternoon of Saturday, June 13, at home with his wife and partner in adventure, Alan Eisele made his final exit from the grand stage of life – quietly, for once, but not without applause.

“We had a lot of fun,” Bonita said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Alan’s funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23 at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church, 525 Camden Drive, Statesville, followed by a lunch reception at the church.

Arrangements for Mr. Eisele are in the care of Troutman Funeral Home.