Rudolph Grantley Singleton III

Rudolph Grantley Singleton III was born in Fayetteville, NC’s Highsmith Hospital on June 11, 1964. Despite a “rugged” childhood growing up on the “mean streets of Skye Drive,” Grant successfully advanced through Terry Sanford High School in 1983 and subsequently graduated from UNC-Wilmington. As he had been prone to do from his earliest days, Grant went fishing in a business suit of slickers and rubber boots. So immersed was he that he regularly smelled of fish. There are many who would attest under oath that Grant Singleton evolved into the premier fisherman of Red Drum in the shallows of Down East, NC.

Fishing was not his only love, however. There was also hunting. Often waterfowl were the quarry, whether from the headwaters of McFadyen Lake to the Carolina bays of Bladen County to the salt marshes around Cedar Island or farm fields of Manitoba. Time at the Pines, New Pam Ba, the Duck Cabin, Augusta Farms and Bayfields were dear to him. His expansive list of surviving companions will never sit again in a brushed blind without some remembrance, spoken or felt, of this impressively deadly wing-shooter and massively entertaining marsh mate.

His list of loves expanded in 1988 when he began a remarkable courtship with a local Wilmington girl, Miss Sebrell Coupland. During those years when Grant was exuding fish oil from his pores and hitchhiking to Manteo with nothing but a toothbrush, the marital oddsmakers had definitively labeled young Mr. Singleton as a longshot. Sebrell saw what they missed - the core of this glass-half-full, cool-in-crisis, submissive-to-God of a man. In 1992, Sebrell confidently bet the farm (almost literally) on becoming Mrs. Grant Singleton. The payoff was handsome for thirty-three years thereafter.

When first their daughter and then their son followed, Grant in fatherhood proved that love expands limitlessly. All could now see what the former Miss Coupland had bet on. Life lessons, Daddy/Daughter dances, water skiing; opening days of hunting season; knot-tying and blind-building. Church some Sundays and Jesus all week. He also treasured time with extended family on annual trips to Murrells Inlet, Bald Head Island and Cedar Hall. There was always a fishing rod in tow.

Grant’s career choice brought him ashore 35 years ago, and he became real estate’s utility infielder, playing every position profitably and with excellence. He was a stellar residential and commercial broker, a developer, a home builder, a self-managing industrial landlord of buildings that he and partner built and leased. He provided jobs for many, raised a family comfortably, and spawned a new generation of proficiency, as both his daughter and son have profitable real estate careers today.

Grant Singleton leaves behind his wife of 33 years, Sebrell Coupland Singleton; his daughter Sebrell Trask Singleton (fiancé HL Montague III); son R. Grantley Singleton IV “Lee”(Bridget); parents Rudolph and Jenny Singleton; sister, Scott Singleton Gatch, niece Jenny Gatch (fiance John Cowan), mother in law Sue Coupland, brother in law Howard Coupland, nephew Connor Coupland (Mary Hayden), great niece Miriam Coupland, great nephew Walt Coupland, and his beloved hunting dog Fly.

Knowing that his time on earth was to be shortened by ALS, Grant advised this author to in no way tiptoe around his conviction for and faith in Jesus Christ. He boldly claimed it as the decision leading to eternity. That is where Grant resides today, probably sharing cast net techniques to Peter, James, and John.

ALS eventually overtook Grant’s body, but never his soul. Not his wit nor his wisdom. Definitely not his willingness to share both. For the last year of his life, though in a broken body, Grant cheerily hosted Wine Time on his screen porch or by his fireplace hearth. There he induced laughter, enjoyed the sounds from classic vinyl, shared in Bible Study and in communion, both secular and holy. Upon his escape from a no-longer-needed body on May 7, 2025, a friend spoke wisely that “Grant was not the beneficiary of the last year of his life. We were.” Indeed, we were.

The family thanks the too-many-to-name community of family and friends who loved Grant dearly and who showed it with calls, texts, letters, visits, Decoy, E H Taylor, scallops, tuna, firewood, and shelled corn to name a few. Especially, thanks to the” Murphy Road Muscles” and a giant “bless your heart” to the caregivers – Gloria, Annessa, Tanya, Tadeen, Sarah and Johnnie - who at the end were family. They deeply appreciate the incredible support of the team at 3HC Home Health and Hospice Care and are forever grateful for the house calls made by dear friends Dr. George Pantelakos and Dr. William J. Wiggs.

All strive for richer lives enjoining with those we love. No king’s gold could buy the richness that accumulated from having been family member and friend to Grant Singleton. Buddy Buddy, stand down. Enjoy eternity. Wait for us at the door.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, 701 Westmont Drive, Fayetteville NC 28305 or PreBorn, PO Box 78221, Indianapolis, IN 46278.

Service at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church Monday May 12, 2025 at 2pm in the Sanctuary, visitation 12:30 in the Gathering Hall

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