Source:  Parker-Rhoden Funeral Home, 1/26/11

LAUREL SPRINGS, NC: Dr. Lewis James Gaskin, husband of Patricia “Patsy” Bouzard Gaskin, died unexpectedly Sunday at the Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville, SC. He was 79. 

Dr. Gaskin was born in Albermarle, NC March 14, 1931 a son of the late Ruth James and Lewis Roy Gaskin. He attended Albemarle High School as part of the class of 1949, and also served the community as an Eagle Scout. He spent a summer at Mars Hill College prior to enrollment at Emory University at the age of 17. Upon graduation from Emory University, he served in the United States Army Medical Corps
during the Korean War, prior to returning to the Emory University School of Medicine. He received a Doctor of Medicine Degree in 1958. His internship and residency in Anesthesia were both spent at Grady
Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Gaskin founded the first private Anesthesiology practice in the
state of North Carolina, Raleigh Anesthesia Associates. For over thirty years he served the citizens of Raleigh at Rex Memorial Hospital, Mary Elizabeth Hospital and Raleigh Community Hospital.

After his retirement from medicine in 1993, he and his wife “Patsy” resided full-time at their mountain farm in Laurel Springs, NC, where they specialized in growing boxwoods and Christmas Trees, a business
that saw national distribution. Dr. Gaskin was a member of the Music Advisory Board of Appalachian
State University, was a former President of the Raleigh Academy of Medicine, and served as Chairman of the Laurel Springs Fire Department. He was also a member of the NC State Wolfpack Club, the
ASU Yosef Club, and both the Kappa Alpha and Phi Chi Fraternities.

Dr. Gaskin loved the outdoors, gardening, and growing all types of plants and flowers, particularly roses, orchids and the unusual. He was a member of the NC Orchid Society and was an active member of the
West Jefferson First Baptist Church. He enjoyed a life-long interest in music, particularly the harp. His love of music lead him to establish Harp Scholarships at both ASU and UNC Greensboro.

In addition to his wife of fifty-two years, he is survived by one son, Frederick Lewis and his wife Irvine, of Princeton, NJ and by three daughters, Gail Gaskin Mills and husband Dean, of Charlotte, Gloria Gaskin Soler and husband Ed, of Knoxville, TN and Rebecca Gaskin Gain and husband Arnold, of Johannesburg, South Africa; one sister, Rebecca Ann Gaskin of Albermarle, NC; as well as four grandchildren, Christopher and Patrick Mills and Lewis and Emily Gaskin. He was preceded in death by a brother, Dr. Ernest Reed Gaskin and by a sister, Erleen Gaskin Snelling.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, January 29, at 2:00 p.m., at the West Jefferson First Baptist Church, with burial following at the Laurel Springs Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive
friends at the church beginning at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made online to the music department at the ASU Hayes School of Music, www.music.appstate.edu/giving, or UNC Greensboro School of Music, www.uncg.edu/mus/alumni.html. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.parkerrhodenfuneralhome.com, Parker-Rhoden
Funeral Home, 117 Paul Street, Walterboro, SC in in charge of arrangements.