Dwayne Summerlin
Dwayne Summerlin
Dwayne Summerlin, the son of farming parents and raised on a Duplin County farm, attended the B. F. Grady School and graduated in 1982 from East Duplin High School at Beulaville. He then attended James Sprunt Community College and graduated with honors in 1984 with degrees in both business administration and accounting. He attended Mount Olive College. It was on October 14, 1985 that one of his dreams became a reality: he became a member of the staff of Tyndall Funeral Home, as being a "funeral home man" was something that he had wanted to do since he was a child. He was hired by Norwood Odom, manager of the firm at the time, who became his mentor and friend. With his general college credits in hand, he took the state board funeral director's exam in 1988 and became a licensed funeral director. In 1989 he was named vice-president of the firm and while still a full-time employee, he returned to the classroom in 1994, and in the next 14 months he completed the associate degree program in the School of Funeral Service at Fayetteville Technical Community College in Fayetteville.
As a funeral service licensee, Dwayne continues to serve his community as a funeral director and embalmer, lending a listening ear and supporting shoulder to others when they need him most. Having experienced quite a few losses of his own--the deaths of his father and mother, several aunts and uncles, and all his grandparents of which he was very fond--he uses those experiences as a means to reach out to others, remembering how others reached out to him and his family during their sad hours. He implements a unique gift he has into many of the funeral services handled by Tyndall. He enjoys creative writing and has the ability to write poetry about the deceased; therefore, most of the funeral bulletins contain some of his words which, in poetic form, describe the lives of the deceased. Although Dwayne knew alot of people before he joined the Tyndall staff, his association with the firm has afforded him the opportunity to meet and become acquainted with many more, and from this opportunity, many friendships have been formed.
In 1997 he married Barbara Gail Price Summerlin and they make their home on the family farm on which he was raised. They are the parents of "the prettiest brown-eyed, brown-haired girl in the world," Betty Caroline, and also the "prettiest blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl in the world," Catherine Leanne. They attend the Alum Springs Baptist Church which was his grandmother's place of worship for as long as she lived. He has two brothers, Johnny and Todd. Most of his "off-time" is spent with his family, but he is never too far away...a moment's notice and there he'll be...to do what he can to serve another family.