Stanley Calvin Lettas

Stanley C. Lettas, age 95, died July 30, 2025, at Galloway Ridge at Fearington Village near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.A transplanted midwesterner, Stan lived and worked in 10 different states before moving to North Carolina in retirement. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and launched his business career in Chicago.

In 1951, he graduated from Northwestern, married Joan, his college sweetheart and was drafted into the Army, all in the same summer. After his Army service, he returned to the Chicago area and joined Wilson Sporting Goods Company in their advertising and publicity department. In 1955, he began a 30-year career in public relations with Allstate Insurance Company, where he directed consumer affairs and corporate giving programs on a state and national level.

Retiring in 1985, Stan and Joan moved to New Bern, North Carolina, where they lived for the next 20 years. They resettled to the Galloway Ridge retirement community in 2013. He and Joan were together for 67 years until her passing in 2018.

Stan excelled in a variety of communications activities. He was a corporate publicist, a feature writer for newspapers and magazines and a spokesman in the health and safety fields. Both professionally and privately, he participated in civic and community beautification programs everywhere he and his family lived.

In New Bern, he served as the first president of the Greenbrier Property Owners Association, whose more than 500 homes made it the largest homeowners organization in the southeast at the time. He also was appointed to the New Bern Appearance Commission and the joint city-county committee that bought the Riverfront Convention Center to the historic city.

In other places and times, Stan was a regular blood donor for the American Red Cross and a volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society’s patient assistance program. In Michigan, he led public education campaigns to make air bags and other car safety features mandatory in the auto industry.

Both Stan and Joan were devoted to travel as a lifelong learning experience for their family as well as themselves. They journeyed extensively in the United States, through most of western Europe, and to South Pacific lands. They also participated in Elderhostel programs, visited most Presidential libraries and many art museums big and small throughout the country.

Stemming from their travels, Stan developed an ongoing interest in scrapbooking, art collecting and antique furnishings. One of his favorite hobbies was collecting wooden art objects made from trees all over the world. Their collection of eclectic paintings adorned the walls of their homes to their constant enjoyment.

Stan was always a big sports fan. As a high schooler, he was an All-Star baseball player in the American Legion league. At college, he captained intramural football and softballl teams. In retirement, he was a regular on club tennis teams and participated in the North Carolina Senior Games for several years.

Stan was happiest when doing things for others. He will be remembered at Galloway Ridge for his many donations and advocacy in behalf of improvements for his fellow residents. He always wanted to make life fun, uplifting and rewarding. To his family, friends and neighbors, he did all of that and more.

Stan is survived by his family of three married daughters, five grandchildren, four great grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and a sister-in-law in the Chicago area. First daughter, Sally, and husband Jeff MacDonald live in Hoover, Alabama near Birmingham. Second daughter, Kathy, and husband Bruce Cornwall, live in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. Third daughter, Caroline, and her husband Jeff Cook, reside in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A brother, Robert, is a longtime resident of San Diego, California.

In his honor, please support environmental protection initiatives, medical research and anti-poverty programs of your own choice as much as as often as possible. Condolences to the family may be sent to Endswell Aquamation of Hillsborough, North Carolina — endswellfuneralhome.com

His epitaph: “I cared. I shared. I dared. I think how well I fared."