Ottis "O.C." Columbus Stonestreet III

O.C. Stonestreet once told me, “If you want to hear people get mad just mess up their obituary” and no he wasn’t referring to the deceased. After retiring from teaching, O.C. worked for a few years for the Statesville Record and Landmark and one of his jobs was writing up the obituaries. Of course, people who have just lost a loved one are upset anyway and a mistake in their loved one’s obituary could really set them off. O.C. Stonestreet III, well known Iredell County educator, historian and author passed away Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, at Catawba Valley Hospital in Hickory at age 78. His health had been in gradual decline since the death of his beloved wife Judy in February 2024. O.C. had requested that there be no funeral service, but a celebration of his life is being planned by his son Chris and his grandsons, Blake Alexander and Ryan Mason. The family asks that all donations in honor of O.C. be sent to the Disabled American Veterans organization at www.dav.org or 1-877-647-8387.

Ottis Columbus Stonestreet III known as “Chip” was born on Dec. 9, 1947 at Davis Hospital in Statesville and was delivered by Dr. James W. Davis himself. He made his first appearance in the newspaper on Dec. 10, 1947, when “O.C. STONESTREET III” headlined a short article announcing his birth. O.C.’s mother was Nellie Steele Rhodes Stonestreet of Statesville who graduated from Statesville High School on May 9, 1940 in a graduation ceremony held at the Playhouse Theater. She later graduated from Mitchell Junior College. His father, O.C. Stonestreet Jr., of Mooresville, was a professional photographer and World War II combat veteran. He married Nellie on July 11, 1942. Almost two years later Pvt. First Class O.C. Stonestreet Jr., of the 29th “Blue and Gray” Infantry Division took part in “Operation Overlord” landing at Omaha Beach around D-Day in June 1944. He was later awarded a Bronze Star.

O.C. remembered watching “The Longest Day” on TV with his older brother Jeff and hearing his dad say that he had been in “the original cast.” O.C’s grandfather was Ottis Columbus Sr., born in Surry County in 1895. He married Hettie Hinson of Iredell County in 1917 and operated Stonestreet’s Grade A Café at 450 S. Main St., in Mooresville near the Mooresville Cotton Mill in the 40’s and 50’s. O.C. grew up in the 1950s reading comic books (he told me that’s how he really learned to read) and attending Park View Elementary School in Mooresville, where he carried Blue Horse notebooks to school. He remembered being amazed at Bob Brown’s Science Circus in the school auditorium at age 8 in the third grade. He watched WBTV on Saturday morning on a black-and-white Philco TV and loved “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet,” “Captain Midnight,” and the “Roy Rogers” show at noon. He loved Si-Fi and westerns and remembered fondly how his mother Nellie would do a lot of baking the week before Christmas. Every year on Christmas Eve his mother would read the 1845 short story, “The Little Match Girl” by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson to him and Jeff after they went to bed.

Perhaps it was his reading skills that made O.C. an excellent student. Both he and Jeff were Eagle Scouts. He graduated in the Mooresville High School class of 1966 and on Jan. 19, 1966 the Record and Landmark reported that Ottis Columbus Stonestreet, III was one of six young Iredell County men who had been nominated to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point by Rep. James T. Broyhill. O.C. went to college graduating from the UNC-Charlotte in 1970 with a B.A. in History. He taught one year in the Kannapolis City Schools before enlisting in the Navy where he served as a Petty Officer 2nd Class from 1971-1975. After leaving the Navy he resumed his teaching career at Central School in Iredell County and then Brawley Middle School where he taught for 18 years. He received a Master of Education degree from UNC-Charlotte in 1980. He later taught at Celeste Henkel School and Statesville High School and finally at Mitchell Community College. In 2005 he took a position as an editorial assistant in the newsroom at the Statesville Record and Landmark from which he retired in July of 2010. O.C. married Judy Maxine Newton of Mooresville on Jan. 13, 1968. His brother David Jeff Stonestreet served as his best man. Judy would become a paramedic with the Iredell County Emergency Medical Service and teach paramedic students at Mitchell Community College. Their son Chris, O.C. Stonestreet IV, taught in the Mooresville School system and like his dad became a historian and author. The couple’s daughter Susannah Carol, born on Dec. 17, 1973, passed away on Feb. 18, 1974.

Though his career was in education, it is O.C. Stonestreet the columnist and author that he is known for today. O.C.’s writing career began when Mooresville Tribune editor Leonard Sullivan published an article he wrote titled, “Mr. Side: Builder of Men” about Side Mack a Mooresville merchant who helped establish troops of Boy Scouts in southern Iredell County. The article was published on May 20, 1971 and was O.C.’s first byline. O.C. credited his father for giving him a love for history once saying, “Our father took us to places of historic interest.” O.C. would write articles for the Mooresville Tribune, the Statesville Record and Landmark, Iredell Neighbors, Lake Norman Times, The State, the Iredell Citizen and other publications. In an index of articles that I have yet to finalize I counted 1,223 articles in all, but there are more than that. I did not include a series of articles he wrote for the Tribune titled. “A look at Our Town 100 years ago.” Like his father O.C. loved photography and he had numerous photos and short articles published as “staff” in the local papers.

In 1998 he published his first book, “A Brief History of Cool Springs School.” In 2000 he helped in the writing of “The Heritage of Iredell County, NC Vol. II – 2000” with the Genealogical Society of Iredell County. In 2012 he published “Tales from Old Iredell County: Historical Mysteries, Legends, Murders and Stories of the Unusual and Unique.” He followed up in 2013 with “They Called Iredell County Home: Interesting People Who Were Born or Lived in Iredell County, N.C.” and “Once Upon a Time…In Mooresville, N.C, Episodes in the History of a Southern Town” in 2014. O.C. was particularly proud of having contributed articles to “The Encyclopedia of North Carolina” published in November 2006 and edited by William S. Powell history teacher at UNC-Chapel Hill and a Statesville native. In August 2024, O.C. Stonestreet III was awarded The Order of the Long Leaf Pine signed by Gov. Roy Cooper for his exemplary service to the state of North Carolina and its communities.

O.C. loved airplanes. I used to save him books on planes until he finally said, “If I come home carrying anymore books Judy won’t let me in the house.” It was fitting that his last two articles published in the Record and Landmark were “Dec. 17 an important date in American, world history” published on Dec. 23, 2023 about the Wright Brothers first flight and “Statesville Regional Airport hosts ‘war-winning’ visitor” published on May 4, 2024, about the B-29 Superfortress that visited the Statesville airport. Being a veteran himself O.C. took special interest in those that had served in the military from Iredell County and compiled lists of those who died from Iredell in the various wars which were often put in the newspaper at Memorial or Veterans Day. As a Navy veteran he proudly wore his USS Intrepid hat.

I visited with O.C. just a few days before he passed. We were talking about his father who was a professional photographer in Mooresville. At one point he stopped and looked at me and said, “I sure miss Judy.” Before I left, he said with a half-smile, “Wouldn’t it be nice to go back in time and visit with Grandpa in his café like it was years ago and sit and eat a ten cents ice cream and listen to him talk about the latest news around town.” That’s probably where he and Judy are sitting right now.

Written by Joel Reese, Iredell County Public Library

A Celebration of Life for Mr. O.C. Stonestreet is being planned for a later date and will be announced by Troutman Funeral Home. 

Troutman Funeral Home is honored to be serving the family.