Hughes Dillard

Hughes Dillard, 90, of Wilson passed away Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, July 5, 2024, at West Nash United Methodist Church, 2200 Nash Street N, Wilson, with the family receiving friends immediately following. Interment will follow in Maplewood Cemetery, Wilson. Rev. Jim Fletcher will officiate. 

Hughes graduated from Charles L. Coon in 1952 and from Atlantic Christian College in 1956 where he was class president. He was a Business Professor at Atlantic Christian College (Barton College) and Wilson Community College. Hughes a member for fifty-seven years and the Past Master and Secretary and Treasurer of Mount Lebanon Lodge #117 and he was also a member for over fifty years with Mount Lebanon York Rite Bodies, Sudan Shriners and Wilson County Shrine Club. He was a charter member of West Nash United Methodist Church. Hughes was involved in the tobacco industry for many years and had his own bookkeeping and tax services. He loved country music and dancing at the Blue Barn. He enjoyed fishing, reading, teaching, and visiting family and friends.

Hughes is survived by his loving wife of sixty-seven years, Tempie Ree Poland Dillard of the home; daughters, Ann Dillard Grist (Walter) of North Palm Beach, Florida, and Mary Jon Dillard of Wilson; son, Hughes Dillard, Jr. (Rafael) of St. Petersburg, Florida; step-granddaughter, Joanna Grist and her children, Keenan, and Emmett; sisters-in-law, Dell Carpenter, and Joyce Poland, and his brother-in-law, Alvin Poland. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, John Wilson Dillard, Sr. and Annie Barnes Dillard; brother, John Wilson Dillard, Jr., and wife, Martha Todd Dillard. 

Donations can be made to Mount Lebanon Lodge #117, 5172 Bloomery Road, Wilson, North Carolina 27896 or to West Nash United Methodist Church, 2200 Nash Street N, Wilson, North Carolina 27896. 

Condolences directed to Joyner’s Funeral Home and Crematory at www.joyners.net.