Cover photo for Jim Ramseur's Obituary
Jim Ramseur Profile Photo
1946 Jim 2022

Jim Ramseur

January 4, 1946 — April 29, 2022

Jim was born January 4, 1946 in Concord, NC to Helen Marie Faggart Ramseur and Floyd E. Ramseur and was baptized April 14, 1946 at Calvary Lutheran Church becoming a seventh generation Cabarrus County Lutheran. Jim was later confirmed on May 25, 1958.

A proud member of the Concord High School Class of 1964, he studied at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and also State College of Arkansas while serving four years in the United States Air Force Titan II Missile Program.

He spent several years as a young teenager working weekends and summers assisting his Uncle Henry Faggart on the Sunbeam Bread truck. Then at age 16 he went to help his Uncle Charles Williams (a Concord Alderman) and his cousins at Williams & Little Hardware where he continued working during high school and college. After completing his 4 years in the US Air Force, he returned to Concord and began working temporarily with his stepfather Leonard Turner at Turner-Baxter, Inc., but stayed for 35 years where he retired as CEO.

Jim loved Concord’s past, present, and future and served the City of Concord for 29 years through elected and appointed positions. He retired in 2015 from Concord City Council after serving for 20 years. Maintaining Concord’s identity, improving Concord’s quality of life, low taxes, and good service were always tops on his agenda. He introduced a resolution in 1997, ultimately approved by the State of North Carolina, naming the portion of US29 passing through Concord as Concord Parkway. He later had the initial recommendation in 2001 that eventually led to US601 through Concord being called Warren Coleman Boulevard. His 1995 election to the Concord City Council was a natural progression. As a college student in the mid 1960s, he worked part time for City of Concord Engineer Bill Cochran renaming and renumbering the streets in preparation for the new layout with quadrant suffixes added to each street name. He served as Vice Chairman of the Concord Planning and Zoning Board from circa 1974-1976. In 1989, he was appointed to the City of Concord Historic Preservation Commission where he served four of his six years as Chairman. He was named Concord Mayor Pro Tem for 4 of his 20 City Council years. Concord’s 1963 Seagrave Fire Truck was on a list of proposed salvage vehicles presented to the Concord City Council for the year 2000. Council Member Jim Ramseur was concerned about losing Concord’s oldest fire engine and getting little in return. He made a motion to pull the fire truck from the salvage list and for it not be sold at public auction. The motion passed unanimously. The truck was later restored in the off season by Roush Racing and continues today to be used in parades and other ceremonies.

Jim was Concord Jaycee’s President in 1975 and received their Distinguished Service Award (Young Man of the Year) in 1976. He was appointed by the Concord Board of Aldermen in 1975 to the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Community Relations Commission which successfully acquired the first funds used to renovate the Logan Gym. He is a past member of the Concord Rotary Club. He was a member of the Cabarrus Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization from 1996 to 2007. He worked with several community organizations over the years including the United Way, American Cancer Society, and Cabarrus Heart Association. During the 1970s and 1980s, he served on the Concord Christmas Parade Committee as a Parade Director. He was a member of the team that successfully guided the 1994 Concord Mix Beverage Referendum through the yearlong appeals process.

Jim collected vintage Concord postcards and was an avid researcher of Concord history. His history connections included Board of Directors of Historic Cabarrus, Vice Chairman of the City of Concord 1996 Bicentennial Commission, served on the City of Concord Historic Murals Committee, Board Member of the Residents of Historic Concord, and member of the Chamber’s Concord 1980s Downtown Revitalization Committee. He served the Concord Downtown Development Corporation as a Board Vice Chairman in 1993, Treasurer, Design Committee Chairman, and Organization Committee Member. He previously owned an antique business in Downtown Concord and restored its building facade. He was reappointed to the City of Concord Historic Preservation Commission in July 2018.

Jim was honored in 2015 when the Concord Downtown Development Corporation established the James E. ‘Jim’ Ramseur Award which is now given annually to an individual or organization who has gone to great lengths to support and promote not only Downtown Concord but the entire City of Concord.

He was a regular historic photo contributor, as well as researching and writing his captions for page 2A of the Independent Tribune Newspaper, and was a former writer of local history articles in the Concord Standard Newspaper. He wrote Histories on Union ©, a history of 55 Union Street sites which was incorporated in Concord Downtown’s Self-Guided History Tour App. For his work on this Self-Guided History Tour, he was named Concord Downtown Development Corporation’s Volunteer of the Year for 2016-2017. He was an ardent family history researcher and co-compiled and co-authored the 1995 Ramseur History and wrote A Centennial History Calvary Lutheran Church – 1913-2013.

As a Concord City Council Member, he suggested to the Architects and Mayor/Council that the historic exterior architectural features of Concord’s demolished 1902 iconic Concord City Hall be incorporated into the new City Hall. Jim was very proud that the Mayor and Council approved and these historic architectural features are part of the 2015 Concord City Hall on Cabarrus Avenue which won the Best Infill Building Project at the 2017 North Carolina Main Street Conference. He helped design the nine Concord history panels displayed in the lobby of City Hall and wrote the historic descriptions for the Concord History Timeline in Art which is displayed on the walls of the Union-Market Passageway next to Union Street Bistro in Downtown Concord.

Jim was very pleased to have been chosen as a Grand Marshal for the 2017 Concord Christmas Parade. He previously served on the Cabarrus County Fair Board and the Concord Downtown Development Corporation Design and Beautification Committee.

On July 19, 2021, a new city park in northwest Concord was named in honor of J. E. “Jim” Ramseur. This is the first park in this section of Concord.

Jim served in numerous capacities through his years at Calvary Lutheran Church including Sunday School Officer, Treasurer of Calvary's Lutheran Church Men in 1975, 1976, and 1977, and President in 1980. He was elected to the Church Council and served in 1974, 1975, and 1976. When Calvary decided to install a new Zimmerman Organ in 1979, Jim went to the Cannon Foundation and successfully obtained $2500 to assist in the purchase. He served many years on the Property Committee, several of those as Chairman. To help celebrate twenty-five years in the Calvary Lake Concord Church in 1979, Jim compiled a 'Twenty-Five Year Brochure'. Other areas of Jim's Calvary involvement both as a child and as an adult were Acolyte, Lector, Sunday School Officer, Usher, Children's Christmas Plays, Youth Choir, Boy Scout, Luther League, and the 2013 Centennial Committee member.

His mother, father, and a baby sister all preceded him in death.

Survivors include a loving and caring wife, Terry Walker Ramseur. Son, James Dodson (JD) Ramseur of Concord, Daughter, Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Ramseur Myers, and husband John of Concord. Grandsons, James Spencer Ramseur and Rylan Cole Ramseur. Brother, Thomas W. Ramseur of Concord.

The family will receive friends from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at Calvary Lutheran Church (950 Bradley Street, Concord, NC) prior to the Memorial Service led by Reverend Deborah Fry at 3:00 PM.

A private burial will be in Concord’s Historic Oakwood Cemetery.

Memorials may be sent to Calvary Lutheran Church - Capital Reserve Fund, 950 Bradley Street, Concord, NC 28025 or the Humane Society of Concord and Greater Cabarrus County, PO Box 5347, Concord, NC 28027.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Jim Ramseur, please visit our flower store.

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Visitation

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

12:30 - 2:30 pm (Eastern time)

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Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Starts at 3:00 pm (Eastern time)

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