Heather and Ricky Cobb

Heather Marie Cobb was born on May 18, 1979 at Pitt Cointy Hospital in Pinetops, Edgecombe County, North Carolina United States to Ricky Earl Cobb and Cathy Marie Bass, and has a sister Jessica Leigh Cobb. Heather was baptized circa August 1989. She married Charles Rodney Jones Ii, and they had a child Mary Savanna Jones. She would also marry Daniel Lee Contino, and they had a child Riki Marie Contino. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Heather Marie Cobb.

Ricky and Cathy were married on May 25, 1973. Ricky went into renial failure at age 21 due to streptococcus settling in the kidneys from untreated sickness in his teenage years. Ricky was one of the first “at home” dialysis patients in Eastern NC in the mid 1970’s and received a cadaver donor kidney in March of 1977. He was the first renial transplant patient at the new Duke North Hospital in May 1980 where there were complications caused by the hospital resulting in his daughter, Heather, celebrating her first birthday in the hospital with her family. Due to the high doses of steroids to prevent organ rejection, Ricky suffered many other illnesses including an enlarged heart, stroke, foot drop, and a wrist fusion. Even with all these health issues Ricky was always smiling and happy. He never complained, even to his wife about pain or disability. Ricky loved his family, immediate and extended, and was a happy, loveable man. He loved his Mama and continued to help her any way he could until his death. He loved children and always wanted a house full of child laughter. He was always willing to help someone in need. Birthdays, not just his, were always a special time to him because he never knew if he’d see another one. He tried to live every day like his last and created many memories with his family in his short time on earth. He loved his girls, Cathy, Heather and Jessica, so much he died for them so they would not continue to be burdened by his sickness. His fight for life truly ended in the wee hours of the morning on June 26, 1994 when he coded in his hospital room at Pitt Memorial Hospital. He was on life support until July 1, 1994 when his wife Cathy, mother Thelma, brother Ed and long time family friend, Marilyn Proctor Peaden held his hands as he left this world. He will always be remembered as a hero in the eyes of his family, especially his daughter, Heather, and his grandchildren.