Richard Scantlebury

Richard Scantlebury

Nashville, TN

Richard Thomas Scantlebury, known as Dick or RT by his friends and family, passed with little suffering, and peacefully, in his home on April 11, 2015.

He was born November 26, 1922 to Ralph Thomas and Edna VanNess Scantlebury. He grew up in small town Ashland, Ohio, during a time that we now call "simpler." But when WWII came, like so many others, he enlisted, and by the end of the war, was a Lieutenant in the Navy, having served in the Pacific, including Okinawa.

RT graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve, where he was president of his Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In 1947 he married his wife of 67 years, Jeannette (Jan) Freer, also from Ashland, who survives him. Jan and RT bore, and he is also survived by, daughter, Alice Keener and sons, Mark and Todd Scantlebury, who in turn provided a loving family of six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and counting.

In 1965, RT and Jan moved with their children to Nashville, where RT worked as a sales manager for ALCOA and later, as a self-employed manufacture's representative. He was a penultimate salesman - a good listener and humorist, who, as Will Rogers said, never met a man he did not like. In Nashville, he was involved in the community as a Boy Scout leader, a Salvation Army volunteer and a member of the Silver Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). He was an Elder and served on the Board of Hillwood Presbyterian Church, where he also taught sunday school.

A service will be held in RT's honor at Hillwood Presbyterian Church Friday, April 17, with a visitation starting at 1 p.m. and service beginning at 2 p.m.

Those wishing to remember him through giving may donate to the Hillwood Presbyterian Church, 6220 Hickory Valley Rd., Nashville, TN 37205, or to the charity of their choice.

As we all would wish for ourselves, RT is remembered fondly by his wife, descendants and friends. He is blessed with a legacy of grateful and admiring family and companions, whose lives were made better by his presence.