Virgil David Lockamy, Jr.

August 23, 1928 – January 24, 2012

Virgil David Lockamy passed away suddenly Tuesday from complications from a fall. He is survived by his children, Brenda Janssen, 53, Delores Paduano, 50, James Lockamy, 42 of Orlando and John Lockamy, 42, of Lakeland, 6 grandchildren, Eric, Sara, Kirsten, Crystal, Chelsea, and Devin and 3 great grandchildren, Shannon, Shana and Zachary.

Virgil was born on August 23, 1928 in Richlands, NC. He grew up in the Seagate area of Wilmington, NC, helping his parents, Virgil, Sr. and Eula Lockamy, run a service station on Oleander Drive and was active in Seagate Baptist Church as a young adult. He was an army veteran and a 30 year retiree with Babcock and Wilcox. He relocated to east Orange County in 2005.

In retirement he started using a bicycle to get around town and was well recognized at Independence Mall and Morrison's Cafeteria, where he enjoyed sharing stories and scripture and debating issues with anyone who had the time. Though he lost many very nice bikes to thieves, he would always replace them so he could ride again. Neighbors of his daughter knew him as the man on the bike and even into his 80's, two weeks after a heart attack, he could ride several miles.

The only thing more important to Virgil in life was his book collection, and although he amassed hundreds of volumes, from a Funk and Wagnal encyclopedia set to the Left Behind Series and a range of biographies, the one book that was most important to him was his Bible, or all of them, and he read through The Word completely more times than he could remember and spent countless hours each day studying it. One of his favorite sayings was that whether he was alive for the return of the Lord or whether he passed from this life, he couldn't lose, because he knew where he was headed and it is certain that he is now riding a beautiful new bike that no one will ever steal from him again on streets of gold, singing a hymn of praise and joy to the Lord he loved and looked forward to worshiping forever.

Throughout his life, he shared a strong faith and one very important part of his testimony was a series of dreams he had when he was nine. The first was a simple, everyday kind of dream that came true right away. The second was a much more notable one that he would be in a plane crash as a teenager. Indeed, when he was 16 he was in a crash of a small plane and walked away from it with only a broken collar bone. The third and most significant was that he would see the Lord return through the clouds, which he understood to be the Rapture. With absolute confidence, he believed this right up to the day the Lord did take him home. As he fell asleep in the Lazboy chair he loved that January morning, after the fall that led to the end of his Earthly journey, he surely rejoiced as that dream became reality, finally, after all those years.

As Virgil has now realized the goal of his life, the family requests that in honor of him, in lieu of flowers, make memorial donations to the Light Ministries or Grace Medical Home, so that others may be blessed through his living and his passing. Those who wish to make tax deductible donations to The Light Ministries Foundation which provides funding for Word on the Street Homeless Ministries can visit http://bit.ly/t9jVHd. Make Donations to Grace Medical Home at http://bit.ly/xyr1Y0.