Obituary: Bobby Gene Heath, Jr.

Mr. Bobby Gene Heath, Jr, age 66, passed away Sunday morning, October 27, 2024, at the ECU Inpatient Hospice Center in Greenville following a long and courageous battle with cancer. A native and lifelong resident of Greene County, he was born October 19, 1958, the son of Bobby Gene Heath, Sr. and Lillie Boone Heath.

Bobby was an avid outdoorsman and growing up on the banks of the Contentnea Creek in Hookerton fueled a lifelong love of fishing; for Bobby fishing was not a hobby but a passion. Throughout his life he spent countless hours on the water casting a line and most often preferred to be there at sunrise. Even in the last years as health challenges began to occur, he still pushed himself to enjoy a day on the water with many of his dear friends and fishing buddies.

Bobby was a carpenter and farmer by trade for many years, worked with former the Monk Tobacco Company in Farmville, and worked with the NC Department of Corrections in Maintenance. He retired in his early sixties due to his health beginning to decline. Bobby loved animals, especially Border Collies, and throughout his 43 years of marriage with his wife, Freida, they had eleven Border Collies that he thought of as their “children”.

Surviving are his wife, Freida Langston Heath of the home; sister, Robin Heath Owens and husband, Jeff of Moldova; niece, Paulina Katherine Owens of Moldova; special aunts, Mary Heath of Kinston and Annie Stroud of Snow Hill; a special cousin, Andy Heath of Emerald Isle; and many special friends and fishing buddies who he dearly loved and among them was his best friend, Buzzy Walston, who Bobby always referred to as “Chief”.

Funeral Services will be held graveside 2 PM Thursday, October 31st, at the Snow Hill Cemetery with Reverend Kelley Smart and Reverend Stephen Prescott officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following and other times at the Heath residence.

Mr. Heath will lie-in-repose throughout the day on Wednesday from 8 AM – 4 PM and Thursday morning from 8 AM – 12 PM at Taylor-Tyson Funeral Service in Snow Hill.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are encouraged to the Greene County Animal Shelter, 229 Kingold Blvd, Suite D, Snow Hill, NC 28580 or Free Union OFWB Church, 2573 Firetower Road, Walstonburg, NC 27888.