Wilton McDonald Lanier
May 13, 1932
March 4, 2020
Visitation
Saturday, March 14, 2020
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville
Memorial Service
Saturday, March 14, 2020
11:00 AM
Serenity Funeral Home, Beulaville
Interment
East Duplin Memorial Gardens, Beulaville
Fairfax, VA
Wilton McDonald Lanier, age 87, passed away peacefully with family by his side on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at the INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.
Wilton was born into a large family amongst the tobacco fields of Eastern North Carolina, and worked his early years on the family farm. His mother passed away when he was three and his older sisters helped to raise him. Upon graduating high school, he enlisted in the US Coast Guard and was promoted to the rank EN3 Engineman, serving primarily on the Lightship “Winter Quarter” LV91/WAL-515, helping to protect and patrol the shoals in the Graveyard of the Atlantic around Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After a three-year hitch at sea, he continued to serve in the US Coast Guard Reserves to complete an eight-year service obligation while concurrently furthering his education at the Commercial Trades Institute Birmingham, Alabama.
After graduation, he rose through the ranks from mechanic’s helper to general manager of Alto Incorporated, a restaurant construction business in Alexandria, Virginia, where he and his wife had relocated after his active-duty assignment and schooling were completed. In the early 1970s, he joined the Marriott Corporation as assistant chief engineer of the Twin Bridges hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Wilt rapidly ascended in the company to his final position as Vice President of Hotel Engineering at corporate headquarters. He traveled the world to construct and open hotels, helping Marriott through a rapid expansion in the late 1970s through the 1993.
Wilton was a faithful and giving man, helping family and friends throughout his lifetime. Together with his wife Reba, he was amongst the first to attend the Bush Hill Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia upon its founding in 1958, and he served as an Elder for Building Services and other capacities for many years in the 1960s and 1970s. Wilton was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason at the Springfield, Virginia Grand Lodge in 1966, and was recently awarded the 50-year membership certificate and pin. Upon retirement, he remained in Vienna, Virginia where he had moved with his wife from Alexandria in 1982.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Reba Sholar Lanier. He also leaves to cherish his memory, his sons Terry Wilton Lanier and wife Laura Ann Lanier of Fairfax Station, Virginia, Gregory Alton Lanier and wife Janice Merwin Lanier of Houston, Texas, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a host of friends and extended family.
Services were held on Saturday March 14, 2020 at Serenity Funeral Home, 1100 S. NC 41 & 111, Beulaville, NC 28518. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Alzheimer’s Organization at www.alz.org.
