Neill McKeithen Caldwell Jr.

WINSTON-SALEM — Neill McKeithen Caldwell Jr., 65, beloved husband, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend, died March 13, surrounded by loved ones, at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem. Neill spent more than 40 years in journalism, with a demonstrated excellence ranging as a sportswriter, features editor and freelance travel writer, to insightfully reporting on religion, spirituality and ethics. Away from the newsroom, Neill could be found confidently singing in church choirs and community choral groups, enthusiastically cheering the Appalachian State Mountaineers to victory, and was a popular teammate when playing Trivial Pursuit. He was an avid photographer, an actor in community theater productions, a fantasy-sports enthusiast and champion, and dabbled as an artist. He also used his keen wit to bring joy and laughter to gatherings of family and friends throughout his life. Neill was born April 4, 1959, in Raleigh, the son of Neill McKeithen “Mackie” Caldwell and Susan Page Swaringen Cheek Caldwell. Neill was raised in Aberdeen, NC, and faithfully attended Bethesda Presbyterian Church where he sang in the youth choirs, played on Bethesda’s church league basketball team and the church’s softball team. Neill graduated from Pinecrest High School in 1977. At Pinecrest, he actively participated in Young Life, sang in the Glee Club, was a sportswriter and photographer for the student newspaper, and coached a girls’ powder-puff football team. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communications and media at Appalachian State University in 1982. While at ASU, he wrote sports for the school’s newspaper, and he successfully coached a women’s flag football team, The Untouchables, to the campus championship and to the national tournament in New Orleans. Neill’s career in journalism included serving as a sportswriter at the Lexington Dispatch (1982-1984), assistant sports editor at the Asheville Citizen-Times (1984-1985), news editor at the Lexington Dispatch (1985-1994), and editorial page editor at the Asheboro Courier-Tribune (1994-1997). Neill married the love of his life, Lynne Blankenship, on April 5, 1997, at First United Methodist Church in Forest City, NC, where Lynne was serving as Senior Pastor. . In the years that followed, Neill and Lynne enjoyed living in the communities where Lynne served as minister. Neill worked as a freelance travel writer for several publications, including Our State magazine. He was a news designer and copy editor at the Charlotte Observer (1998-99), and features editor at the Gaston Gazette (1999-2002). Neill earned a master’s degree in liberal studies at UNC-Greensboro in 2003. He also earned a certificate from Northwestern University, reporting on religion, spirituality and ethics. He was a Lilly Fellow at the Medill School of Journalism and Garrett Evangelical School of Theology. Neill and Lynne moved to Richmond, VA, in 2006, with Neill serving as a reporter for the United Methodist News Service (2006-2012) and as the editor of publications for the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church (2006-2015), including the Conferences award-winning monthly news magazine, The Advocate. He later served as communications director for Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (2015-2018). Neill and Lynne moved to Winston Salem in 2019, and Neill served as editor of The Stokes News from 2019-2022. After Neill retired in 2022, he was a freelance writer and editor for multiple publications, most recently as social media editor for the community newspaper, The Hub, Asheboro, NC. Throughout his career, Neill and the publications for which he was responsible won many press awards from the NC Press Association and the United Methodist News Service. In 2004, Neill was named Communicator of the Year by Bishop Charlene Payne Kammerer and received the Bishop’s Medal of Achievement in Christian Communication at Lake Junaluska. Neill is survived by his wife, Lynne, his brother Bill Cheek (Chris) countless friends and many loving family members—mother-in-law (Vivolynn Blankenship Crandall) aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews through Lynne’s branches of their joined family trees. He is also survived by the members of his “second family,” family of the heart, the extended McNeill clan of Frank and Ann McNeill. One of Neill’s many interests was family ancestry. On a trip to Scotland in 2006, Neill and Lynne learned some of their family’s roots traced back to the same regions in Scotland, Ayr and Paisley, and he was able to visit the graves of his 7th great -grandfather and grandmother, and worship in the same church his family had worshipped for centuries. He and the McNeills discovered they were likely cousins down the line of the Morrison’s and a few times removed. He delighted in studying the links between his family and those first Scots families who immigrated to Aberdeen. A memorial service celebrating Neill’s life will be held Saturday, March 29 at 2 pm at Bethesda Presbyterian Church at 1002 N. Sandhills Blvd. in Aberdeen, with a reception to follow the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Helene Recovery efforts of the WNC Conference of The United Methodist Church directly. Donate here: (https://bit.ly/WNCCHurricaneReliefDonations) Checks may be made out to “Office of Disaster Response” and mailed to PO Box 2757, Huntersville, NC 28070, with the memo “Helene” Donate a tree or trees for reforestation programs in Western North Carolina. See https://plantatree.fs.usda.gov for more information. Please feel free to contribute to your local church, synagogue, mosque or the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be made at www.bolesfuneralhome.com. Services are entrusted to Boles Funeral Home.