John Page Revelle

Published 12:38 pm Friday, February 14, 2025

MURFREESBORO – John Page Revelle, age 93, passed away peacefully on Thursday, February 13, 2025 at his home in Murfreesboro. A native of Hertford County and a lifelong resident of Murfreesboro, John was born on January 30, 1932 in his beloved home town.

John Page enjoyed telling stories about his days on the playing field with the first Murfreesboro High School football team and he graduated with his Red Devils class in 1950. He attended UNC-CH before enlisting in the United States Navy in 1951 to serve during the Korean War. He had various duties including being stationed on an aircraft carrier on which he was a storekeeper. Throughout his naval career he had the opportunity to travel throughout the North Pacific, including a year on Adak Island in the Aleutian Chain. He always fondly looked back on his travels in Japan, Hong Kong, and Hawaii and developed a true affinity for San Francisco, where he said he almost decided to settle and also where he discovered his love of sailing.

After his discharge from the Navy he attended North Carolina State University where he majored in Agricultural Economics. During his time at NCSU he met the love of his life, Barbara Young, from Canton, GA and they married in 1956. They settled in Murfreesboro after briefly living in Raleigh while he finished his college degree.

He returned home to Murfreesboro after graduation and joined his father and brother at Charles L Revelle and Sons in agri-business. He was highly successful in starting his career ginning and marketing cotton, operating a feed mill and grain elevator, farming, and traveling northeastern North Carolina and southside Virginia selling seed corn in the Winter and Spring. In 1961 he was named the cotton ginner of the year for North Carolina.

In the community he was active in Rotary Club, Coffee Club, the Murfreesboro Historical Association, and in his later years he was on the board of Chowan University. He was a lifelong member of Murfreesboro Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and treasurer. He was one of the first chairmen of the Hertford County Economic Development Commission and a member of the North Carolina Agricultural Finance Authority. He was a founding director of Ridgecroft School in Ahoskie, NC. He was a Boy Scout leader. He and his wife Barbara were active members of the community throughout their lives.

John Page loved the water and began his boating career building boats before he graduated from high school. He enjoyed a cabin cruiser he would pilot throughout the waters of eastern NC and southern VA, and then he ventured into what he would truly love, sailing. He docked the different sailboats he owned through the years in Norfolk, VA, and the family would often sail the Chesapeake Bay and often with other close friends from Murfreesboro who also owned sailboats. He was very adventurous, and he and his wife Barbara would take their sailboats up and down the East Coast via the IntraCoastal Waterway, as far north as Annapolis MD and several times traveling as far south as the Florida Keys.

John Page was very outgoing and made friends wherever he went. His love and support for his family and community were constant.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Floy Gabrielle Daniel, and Charles Leslie Revelle, Sr.; his beloved wife, Barbara Joan Young Revelle; and his brother, Charles L. Revelle, Jr. and his wife Margaret.

Left to cherish John Page’s memory are his children, John Paige “Jay” Revelle, Jr. and wife Elicia of Murfreesboro, Paige Revelle Polito and husband Jonathan of Apex, and Daniel Young Revelle of Murfreesboro; grandchildren, John Paige Revelle, III of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, Patricia Claire Revelle, William Daniel Revelle, both of Murfreesboro, Caroline Christine Polito, Alison Marie Polito, and Jonathan Edward Polito, Jr., all of Apex. Also surviving are extended family and friends.

Family will receive friends, Sunday, February 16, 2025 from 2-3 p.m. at Murfreesboro Baptist Church, Murfreesboro, with a celebration of life service beginning at 3 p.m. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Murfreesboro.

In lieu of flowers, memorials contributions may be made directly to Murfreesboro Baptist Church, 200 West Main Street, Murfreesboro, NC 27855, Ridgecroft School, 420 NC Hwy 11 N, Ahoskie, NC 27910, or Chowan University, One University Place, Murfreesboro, NC 27855 or online by visiting tmcfunding.com, search fund, type – John Page Revelle.

Online condolences can be made at www.garrettsykesfs.com. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Garrett-Sykes Memorial Chapel, Murfreesboro, NC 27855, (252) 396-0202.