Cecil Cantrell

1930 - 2017

Cecil Cantrell

Asheville - 09/24/1930 - 02/21/2017

Cecil Thomas Cantrell passed away at Mission Hospital on February 21, 2017 after an extended illness; He was laid to rest in South Carolina at a private graveside service on February 24, beside his wife's parents and grandparents. He was the son of the late Charles Dewey and Betty Elizabeth Cantrell of McMinnville, Tennessee. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by a daughter, Patricia Lynn Cantrell and a brother Charles Cantrell, also of McMinnville. He was a devout Presbyterian and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville, North Carolina. He was married to Teresa, the former Teresa Campbell Caton of Anderson, South Carolina, with whom he shared a deep love and devotion.

The Majority of Cecil's working life was spent in and around Hendersonville, North Carolina. Of his various business ventures, perhaps those, of which he was most proud, were Skyland Petroleum Company and the Coach Lite restaurant. He was the sole proprietor of Skyland Petroleum Company and he was the owner, as well as operator of the Coach Lite. During the nineteen eighties, he built, owned and operated the Hendersonville Ramada Inn.

Either individually or in partnerships, other businesses included a Ban Dag Tire franchise, Kingsport Fuel, the Quarter House, Norm's Minute Marts, Sky Way Trucking, Citizens Fuel, two interstate truck stops and land developed at the Interstate I-26 interchanges in Henderson and Buncombe Counties. Needless to say, this was a man who thrived on work.

In his civic life, Cecil was much honored to have served at the pleasure of then Governor Jim Edwards, on the Board of the University of North Carolina Asheville. He was a Thirty Second Degree Mason and during the nineteen nineties, he was the National President of the Alumni Association for Middle Tennessee State University where the Alumni Hall Assembly Room is named in his honor.

Because of his ability to learn quickly, Cecil graduated at the age of fifteen from Dibrill High School, located outside, but near, the city limits of McMinnville, Tennessee where the Cantrell family lived. By the age of twenty three, Cecil not only had earned an undergraduate degree from the then Middle Tennessee State College, but he had also served in his country's military for five years.

Friends, colleagues and employees remember Cecil's generosity and his holiday parties. All were happy for him, when in his retirement, he traveled the world: hot air ballooning in the Australian Outback, sunset camel riding along the Indian Ocean at Cable Beach, walking the Great Wall of China, sipping coffee at the sidewalk cafés of Paris, studying art in the museums of Vienna and St. Petersburg, retracting the paths through Venice where his leave time was spent while stationed in Italy while serving in The United States Army during his second tour of duty, and enjoying performances at the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic.

Cecil's grandson, William Lohren Dyer of Johnson City, Tennessee, brought great pride and joy to Cecil's life and as grandchildren were born on his wife's side of the family, Cecil expanded his realm of love to include his step grandchildren: Charles, Colette, Marshall and Mallory.

In addition to previously mentioned family members, Cecil leaves behind his daughter, Anne Elizabeth Cantrell Dyer of Johnson City; His son, Thomas Allen Cantrell of Chapel Hill; Two step sons, William Ross Rhoton and wife Jenny of Atlanta, GA and Robert Madison Rhoton and wife Kimberly of Summerville, SC.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Children's Home of Pittsburgh Adoption Services, 5324 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224.

An online registration book is available for family and friends by visiting www.thosshepherd.com. Thos. Shepherd & Son Funeral Home are in charge of the arrangements.