Bobby Reid Lapish

Bobby Reid Lapish 82 of Unionville, North Carolina passed away on Saturday, July 28 at Presbyterian Hospital in Matthews, NC. He was born on July 19, 1936 and recently celebrated his eighty-second birthday. Suffering from cancer of the bladder, he died with complications that caused cardiac arrest. Mr. Lapish battled many physical challenges during his life, including surviving acute Leukemia. Mr. Lapish was born in Kannapolis, NC and was an enthusiastic supporter of his high school, A.L.Brown. He loved to drive with family through Kannapolis and share where his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and friends lived and worked in a closely linked community. He loved even more to reminisce about pranks and adventures that were inevitably part of the fifties love affair with cars, racing, and teenage humor in a small town where kids walked to school and police knew them by name. He took part in the exodus of young men leaving the South for Michigan to work in the automotive plants in the heyday when cars had fins and came in rainbows of turquoise, blue, green, and even pink. Later, during the pre-Vietnam years, he served in the United States Army in Germany. Eventually, he settled into another growing sector of office equipment and opened Piedmont Business Equipment and ran it until his retirement. In 1961 Bobby Lapish wed Carolyn Jane Tomberlin in a marriage that would have reached fifty-six years had he lived until December 31, 2018. The couple lived in Unionville from 1965. In a period of better health, he was an active member of Hillcrest Baptist Church and of the Unionville American Legion, Post 535. Mr. Lapish is survived by his wife, Carolyn Tomberlin Lapish, his brother, Clyde Lewis Lapish and sister-in-law, Sandra Brown Lapish of Flint Michigan; two sisters-in-law Marie Brickman and Linda Helms Tomberlin and one brother-in-law, Lanny Tomberlin all of Unionville; four nieces: Laura Brickman (husband, Tom Goslin) of Fort Mill, Cara Brickman of Charlotte, Jennifer Tomberlin Baucom, husband Kyle and Ann Marie Tomberlin Ball, husband Travis of Unionville. As a boy, Bobby’s paratrooper neighbor taught him how to survive a fall at a great height. He practiced by jumping off the roof of his Kannapolis home where he landed safely. He was curious and fearless, and he leapt. A private service will be held in the home for immediate family and joined by Don Lisk, former pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church. Any gifts in honor of Mr. Lapish should be sent to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, P. O. Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101 Online condolences may be made at www.gordonfuneralservice.com Gordon Funeral Service Crematory is caring for the Lapish family.