Obituary for Vickie Cobb
She was the only child born to the late Horace Osborne and Ferrie Elizabeth Johnson Hovis on November 15, 1928, in Charlotte, NC. Her father, a career employee of Scott Drug Company, served as the family cook and neighborhood air raid warden during WWII. Her mother worked for Belk’s Department Store, and enjoyed traveling the world in retirement.
Vickie attended Erskine College in Due West, SC, and Queens College in Charlotte, NC, graduating with honors in classical music in 1951. She became the first organist for Memorial Methodist Church, and began teaching piano in her parents’ Parkwood Avenue home. Her Charlotte organist and teaching careers spanned five decades. In 1999, she relocated to Hillsborough, NC, where she continued teaching until her 2013 retirement.
She met her future husband, artist Donald Cobb, on a blind date while he was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC, during the Korean War. The couple wed and had a daughter, Candice, in 1957. A few years later, Vickie and Don were stranded in a storm on NC’s remote Outer Banks. They fell in love with Ocracoke, NC, and decided to build a house and art studio in Oyster Creek there. In the early 1970s, Don realized a lifelong dream and opened his art studio to the public.
After Don’s untimely death in 1977, Vickie opened the Cobb House, a popular boarding house for college students summering on Ocracoke. The Cobb House thrived for 35 years thanks to Vickie’s sense of humor and easygoing style. House rules included, “no kegs on the porch” (unless they wash up in a storm), “date according to need” (if house needs repairs, find matching skills), and “early curfews” (LEAVE the house so Vickie can sleep). Many Cobb House alumni live on Ocracoke today, and regularly reminisce about their Cobb House misadventures.
Vickie’s favorite pastimes included playing and listening to classical music, reading biographies, spending time with her favorite cat, “Mozart,” and walking the Ocracoke beach. She loved her students and younger friends, and frequently commented that, “she didn’t like old people.” Her quick wit and straightforward approach to life were infectious, and her best times were spent laughing on Ocracoke with Cobb House girls and her BFF Phyllis Wall.
Vickie is survived by her daughter, Candice, and partner, Martha McMillan, of Hillsborough and Ocracoke; cousins Lucille McCorkle, Jean Spurrier, Terry McCorkle Elder, and David McCorkle of Charlotte; Mozart, the big fine cat; and a very long list of friends, animals, and extended family.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Cecil Cobb, and her parents, Horace Osborne and Ferrie Elizabeth Johnson Hovis.
A Hillsborough memorial service will be held on Monday, July 10 at 2pm at St. Matthews Episcopal Church with a reception afterwards, and an Ocracoke funeral service will be Thursday, July 13 at 11am at Ocracoke United Methodist Church followed by lunch in the rec hall. Burial will be in the Ocracoke Community Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Ocracoke Community Square Revitalization Project (ocracokefoundation.org). The family would like to thank The Pavilion at Croasdaile, Brookdale Meadowmont, and Hospice of Alamance-Caswell for their care and kindness.
