Harry Freeman Mountcastle

Harry Freeman Mountcastle of Providence Forge, Virginia passed away Thursday, January 30th, 2020. He was 95. He was born on March 21st, 1924 in the very same small town in which he died, weighing in at a whopping twelve pounds for what was the start of a long, loving life. His was a life driven by integrity, honest hard work, a deep faith, and an insatiable curiosity about his world. To know him was to know that he exuded a delight over the great fortune he felt to be alive. He was humble and generous. He was a man who knew the value of a dollar, learned early as a young boy, when he put his bike out for sale with a cardboard sign that read “Will sell for $12 or $13.” His older brothers teased him with no mercy, but by the time he was 15, he had started his first venture into the business of wood, chopping firewood for sale and delivery from an old, discarded 1930’s school bus he repurposed for hauling by cutting off the top and sides. In 1942 when news of America’s entrance into World War 2 reached his village of Providence Forge, he headed straight-away to the local conscription office, volunteered, and was enlisted into the US Army at 18. He spent a year and a half fighting in the Philippines as a Tech Sergeant with his comrades of the US Army, Company C, 85th Chemical Mortar Battalion. He made it home with a bad case of malaria and a grateful heart. He met and married, Minnie, his life partner, not long after his return from the war. They were married 68 ½ years. Harry, with his four brothers, operated the former Mountcastle Lumber Company of Providence Forge and Newport News. He was also an avid hunter, relic collector, and fisherman. Harry served his God and his community with a forthright, unwavering devotion as a church elder of Providence Forge Presbyterian Church for 25 years, as a volunteer New Kent fire fighter and school board member, and as a mentor, friend, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He possessed an inspiring ingenuity for creating something new from something old, and his enthusiasm for the nature world along with his understanding of its preciousness were unspoken life lessons. He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard E. and Sallie C. Mountcastle, his four brothers: James C. (Virginia), Richard E. Jr. (Mary), George W. (Estelle), Thomas H. (Anne); his infant sister, Dorothy; and his wife, Minnie. He is survived by his son, Dennis (Betsy); two daughters, Loretta Mountcastle, and Joan Heath (Bob); and a beloved addition to the family, Jeff Jones (Beth). He has four grandchildren: Brielle Stanley (Brian), Dustin S. Mountcastle (Kristin), Anna Claire Mountcastle, and Robert Heath III (Cindy). There are 13 great-grandchildren, Rachel, Grayson and Harrison Stanley, Ella Scott, Alice Anne and Collette Leigh Mountcastle, Liliana Claire Mountcastle, Rylan and August Campbell, Aleksander, Meighlan, Taylor and James Heath. Harry is survived also by many special nieces and nephews. Visitation will be from 10 AM until noon on Saturday, February 8th at Vincent Funeral Home in Providence Forge, followed by a service at 1:30 PM at Providence Forge Presbyterian Church, 9310 Townsend Rd., Providence Forge, with the burial after in Olivet Church Cemetery. A reception for all follows at Wallace Manor in Providence Forge. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Providence Forge Presbyterian Church, PO Box 239, Providence Forge, VA 23140 or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Harry Freeman Mountcastle

March 21, 1924 - January 30, 2020