Richard Ollen Broadwell III

Richard Ollen Broadwell III, 75, of Sparta, NC, passed away suddenly on June 6,
2026.

He was born in Johnston County on November 16, 1950 and was raised in Selma,
North Carolina. He was the son of the late Richard Ollen Broadwell II and Ava
Rose Davis Broadwell.

Rick earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a boy. He won a Morehead Scholarship to
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the university's highest
honors, and worked as an electrician to cover what the scholarship didn't. He went
on to Wake Forest's Bowman Gray School of Medicine, and completed his surgical
residency at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. He developed expertise in
both surgical care and family medicine, bringing a broad and practical
understanding of medicine to the communities he served.

He built a family practice in Glennville, Georgia, and the town trusted him enough
to make him its mayor. He farmed Vidalia onions commercially alongside his
medicine, because he always had another project, another purpose. He later
returned to North Carolina, and worked for the state in Goldsboro and along the
coast. For years, he traveled to Jamaica with suitcases full of tools, helping friends
build their houses, collecting wood carvings from local artists, and doing what he
could to help one friend and artist find a market for his work in the United States.
Nobody asked him to do most of it. He just showed up.

Rick retired to the mountains and went to work. He cleared and tended his acres of
highland with patience and effort, forest bathing, he called it, though it involved
more chainsaw than the term implies. He renovated his house himself and built a
pole barn big enough for his woodpile and tractors. He took pride in doing things
well and his property reflected that. Even in retirement, Rick was the person you
went to when something was wrong, medical or otherwise, and he would fix it. He
was opinionated about nearly everything, knowledgeable about most of it, and
generous with all of it.

With his family he was kind and present; he shared what he knew and made them
feel worth his full attention. His friendships were central to his life and he treated
them that way. He did things for people, and he surrounded himself with people
who would do the same.

Rick is survived by his wife Mary Broadwell; his daughters, Megan Broadwell
Jordan and her husband Andrew, Mandy Morris and her husband Ben; his son Rob
Broadwell; and three grandchildren, Shayna, Luke, and Kaitlyn Morris. He is also
survived by his brothers, Jim Broadwell and his wife Cynthia, and Joey Broadwell
and his wife Janie; his sister-in-law, Kathy Broadwell; and his sister Amy
Broadwell Taylor and her husband Neil.

In addition to his parents, Rick was preceded in death by his brother, Bart Wilson
Broadwell.

He leaves behind people who will spend the rest of their lives wishing he was here.

Thomas Family Funeral Service is honored to be serving the Broadwell family. If you wish, online tributes may be extended to the family at www.thomasfamilyfs.com.

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