Quinn, Dwight Wilson

12 Sept. 1917–27 Feb. 1992

Dwight Wilson Quinn, businessman and longtime legislator, was born in York, S.C., the son of William Lytle and Lucy Wilson Quinn. After attending the public schools of Kannapolis, N.C., he enrolled in night and correspondence classes to study business law, bookkeeping, accounting, business management, textiles, and related subjects. In 1944–45 he was in the U.S. Army. After working for a time as a printer in Kannapolis, Quinn by the late 1950s had become a supervisor and by 1979 a textile executive with the Cannon Mills.

From 1951 until his retirement, Quinn served successive terms in the North Carolina General Assembly for thirty-six years. Among other legislative assignments, he was chairman of the finance committee and served on the appropriations subcommittee on education. He also was a member of the employment security, local government, state government, federal and interstate cooperation, manufacturers and labor, and other committees. Quinn was a member (1959–60) and chairman (1961–62) of the Governor's Commission on Reorganization of State Government. For a time he was chairman and a member of the executive committee of the trustees of Appalachian State University. A Democrat, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1960 and 1968. He was Man of the Year in Kannapolis in 1948 and received the National Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Community Service from the Amvets organization in 1953. A Rotarian, a Mason, and a Shriner, he was also a member of the Lutheran church. On 23 Feb. 1936 he married Marian Elizabeth Isenhour, and they became the parents of a daughter, Linda Jo. Dwight Quinn died in Atlanta while visiting his daughter and was buried in Kannapolis.