Cheek, who faithfully served Elon for more than three decades in the Department of Chemistry, died May 2.
A native of Alamance County, North Carolina, Cheek attended public schools in the Eli Whitney community, and graduated from Wake Forest in 1941 with a degree in chemistry. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942 to 1945 during World War II and was a navigator on a B-17 bomber. Returning from his second mission over Germany, his plane was hit by cannon fire from the ground, instantly killing two members of the crew. The disabled plane crash-landed in northern France and the surviving eight crew members were captured by German forces. The crew made it across a nearby road and through a wood when German forces captured them and took them to separate camps. After spending 13 months as a prisoner of war, Cheek’s camp at Stalag Luft III in Sagan (now Poland), was liberated April 29, 1945. He was honorably discharged in 1945 as a first lieutenant.
An active member of the Elon Community Church UCC in downtown Elon for almost seven decades, Cheek sang on the choir and served as a deacon and member on numerous committees. He also participated in work the church conducted at the local shelter and was a part of the church’s Men’s Group. He gave numerous talks about his war experiences, including the fascinating recent discovery of remnants of his airplane by a young French teenager, Antoine Berthe, with whom he developed a wonderful friendship. The story of that friendship was featured in the 2013 fall issue of The Magazine of Elon.
Cheek is survived by his wife, Ruth, and four children, Graham Cheek, Sheldon Cheek, Janet Cheek Campbell and Mary Rachel Cheek, as well as his grandchildren, Caroline Campbell, Christopher Campbell and Spencer Wylie Cheek, and several nephews and nieces.