Misc. Notes
Frank, born on October 17, 1930 in Blackstone, VA to the late Frank Vernon Avent, Jr. and Beverly Tuggle Avent attended high school in Red Oak, NC and the Riverside Military Academy in Georgia.
A Major in the U.S. Army, Frank’s military career spanned over 20 years. During his service, he was stationed in Iceland, Germany, and Hawaii, and saw 12 months of combat in Vietnam.
Upon his discharge, Frank moved to Rocky Mount and went to work for Peoples Bank, beginning yet another career in the banking business. In 1978 he started commuting to the Peoples Bank branch in Scotland Neck and a year later became the manager of Peoples Bank in Hobgood, rising to the position of Senior Vice President Branch Administrator for twelve branches.
In September 1980 Frank and his wife, Pat, moved to Hobgood to make their home.
After his retirement from banking in 1995, Frank served on various boards, committees, and organizations in Halifax County and earned a degree in Business Administration from Edgecombe Community College. He was an influential member of the Halifax County Economic Development Commission, the Center for Energy Education, as well as the Chairman of the Halifax Community College Board of Trustees. In 2012 he received the
Long Leaf Pine Award, which honors people who have helped serve the state of North Carolina.
The Halifax County Board of Commissioners has requested that the NC Department of Transportation rename a part of the road between Scotland Neck and Hobgood to Frank V. Avent, III Highway in honor of Frank’s years of service to the county.
A devoted husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Frank served as a Mason for 61 years and spent his life trying to help people. He coined the phrase, “Working together works”. Frank was a community icon and will be greatly missed by his family, his friends and neighbors in Hobgood, and the citizens of Halifax County.
Frank is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Daphine “Pat” Toler Avent; his sons, Frank Vernon Avent, IV and wife Pattie of The Villages, FL, Michael Wayne Avent and wife Sue of Lutz, FL, and William Neil Avent of Charlotte; his step-daughter, Debra “Debbie” Gail Campbell Roach of Tarboro; and his four beautiful granddaughters, Ashley Avent, Melissa Avent Brown, Amanda Avent, and Kathryn Avent.