Cecil Cantrell

1930 - 2017

Cecil Cantrell

Asheville, NC

Cecil Thomas Cantrell passed away at Mission Hospital on February 21, 2017, after an extended illness, and was laid to rest in South Carolina at a private graveside service, on February 24, beside his wife's parents and grandparents. 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 Bandag Tire franchise, Kingsport Fuel, the Quarter House, Norm's Minute Marts, Sky Way Trucking, Citizens Fuel, two interstate truck stops, and land development 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 very 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 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, retracing the paths through Venice where his leave time was spent when serving the United States Army while stationed in Italy 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, TN; his son, Thomas Allen Cantrell of Chapel Hil, NCl; two step sons: William Ross Rhoton of Atlanta, Georgia, and Robert Madison Rhoton of Summerville, South Carolina, plus their wives, Jenny and Kimberly.

Cecil was preceded in death by a daughter, Patricia Lynn Cantrell; his parents, Charles Dewey and Betty Elizabeth Cantrell of McMinnville, Tennessee; and a brother, Charles Cantrell, also of McMinnville.

Cecil was a devout Presbyterian, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville, North Carolina.

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