Nathaniel Winthrop Hiscoe

RALEIGH - After a short, unexpected illness, Nathaniel Winthrop Hiscoe, 40, recently died in his Raleigh home, leaving his family in deep grief and depriving the world at large of a great wit, a profoundly innocent nature, and a living example that some resolute spirits will always follow their own paths. Nathaniel was born in Hillsborough, NC, in 1981 and lived in Houston and Chicago before moving to and growing up in Raleigh, where he graduated from Broughton High. As an adult he attended The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and William Peace University and was employed by UPS and several local businesses. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Jerri and Carolyn Ball and Gordon Hiscoe; by his aunt, Anne Hiscoe Adams, and by his mother, Carol Annette Ball Hiscoe. Born with a rare brain anomaly that required he live in a world where outside stimuli (such as the words in a textbook or the instructions of a teacher) might be unfathomably scrambled before they reached him, Nathaniel struggled mightily to navigate all the places and situations in which most of us grow up, live, and thrive. Carrying that weight for many years with a perseverance and good humor that belied his minute-by-minute challenges, he did his best, especially as that weight began crushing more heavily in his adulthood. His struggle remains an inspiration to those few who knew the burden with which he walked through the world. His family gives a huge final salute to those in Nathaniel’s life who could see and feel that weight and who then stepped up to make it easier to carry. Nathaniel will be deeply missed by his half-brother Jeremy Ball and Jeremy’s wife, Lee Ball (and their precious children). Paternal aunt Patti Hiscoe Battle (and her sons, Mark and Matt Battle) has a hard time imagining a world without his impish smile. His maternal aunts Cynthia Ball (Dave Aspnes) and Amy Ball (Chris Barrett) gave Nathaniel his earliest and most lasting example of what loving family and responsible adulthood could be and are heartbroken by his loss. His father, David Hiscoe (Kathleen Mullan Harris), can’t imagine another backpacking trip without Nathaniel walking beside him. Any appropriate tribute to Nathaniel’s life can only conclude in awe at the love and absolute, superhuman, supreme dedication with which his late mother, Carol Hiscoe, shepherded her youngest son through both his joys and his many challenges. We will never stop missing her. A family memorial and burial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that others who grieve Nathaniel make a donation to Safe Haven for Cats. Arrangements are by Bryan-Lee Funeral Home of Raleigh. Online condolences may be made at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com