Merle Lewis Wideman
Merle Lewis Wideman passed away peacefully at home due to renal failure. Merle traveled the world always demonstrating the class, charm and grace the women of North Carolina are known for. After raising her son, Michael, as a single mom working in Raleigh, Merle began her international journey taking a position with Aramco in Saudi Arabia. From that central location in the Middle East, Merle toured destinations in Europe and Africa. During her tenure at Aramco, Merle met and married her late husband Hillman Curtis Wideman, a marriage lasting forty-one years. When they retired, Curtis and Merle settled in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Both Curtis and Merle enjoyed being involved in various civic and charity events and programs while in Pinehurst. Merle was always the consummate hostess with very little giving her more joy than setting a beautiful table, preparing a delectable meal, and seeing family and friends enjoying it all. Merle also found joy in designing and marketing fine thumb-rings under her own line Merle's World. Merle Lewis Wideman is preceded in death by her husband Hillman Curtis Wideman, Jr. Her father Bennie Edgar Lewis, mother Ora Jane (Bunn) Lewis, brother Elbert Reginald Lewis, and sisters Janice Bunn Lewis and Nevassie Lewis. She is survived by her son Michael Orien Brooks (wife Nancy), and brothers Balbus Fedley Lewis (wife Norma) and Bennie Keyvin Lewis (wife Eleanor); Hillman Curtis children Linda Chandler, Curtis Lewis Wideman (Tina), Kay Moore, Keith Wideman, and Cindy Wemhoff (Greg); Sheryll Coleman (Rick) and many other grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
Published in The Birmingham News from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28, 2014