Dr. Earl M. TAPLEY

TAPLEY, Dr. Earl M.

psychologist and educator, age 101, went home to be with the Lord at 7:15 pm, Dec. 23, 2014. Dr. Tapley was born near Marietta, GA, and grew up on a Cobb County farm, the son of a tenant farmer. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, took the Master of Arts degree at Peabody-Vanderbilt with studies in the Vanderbilt Divinity School, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He was an ordained Methodist minister having served churches in the South and Midwest before he became a college professor and administrator. He served four years on the clergy staff of First United Methodist Church in Dunedin.

He is survived by his son, Dwight (Barbara) a physician in South Bend, IN; daughters, Sharon (Roger) Goodson of Haymarket, VA, and Annette Pace of Evansville, IN; 11 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years, Ruby; his son-in-law, Elbert Pace; and by all of his four brothers and three sisters.

Dr. Tapley was Dean, Vice President, and interim President of Lee University; he served as assistant to the President in public relations and head of Psychology and the Testing and Counseling Center at the University of Chattanooga before accepting a position at the University of Evansville where he was successively professor, director of research, Dean of the School of Education, and Dean of the graduate School. He also served as a consultant and accreditation examiner of colleges for a national and the regional accreditation associations. Though he retired from the deanship in 1979, he remained on at the university for seven years as Director of International Studies and Travel. In 2010, Lee University named the biology laboratory in its new science center for Dr. Tapley. The plaque at the laboratory entrance reads: "In honor of Dr. Earl M. Tapley in recognition of his inspirational and strategic leadership as Vice President and Interim President during the earliest years (1946-1953) as an emerging Lee College". Dr. Tapley was a world traveler, having traveled extensively as a group leader on every continent except Antarctica, visiting more than a hundred countries. His biographical sketch appears in Marquis Who's Who in America and in Who's Who in the World. Dr. Tapley moved to Dunedin in 1986 where his involvement in the life of the community led to his election to the Dunedin Senior Hall of Fame. In succeeding years he has served on the city's Committee on Aging. He was an active Rotarian for more than 60 years; he was a member of the Rotary Club of Dunedin, a Paul Harris Fellow at the fifth level and a member of the Tampa Bay Computer Society.

His family will miss him dearly as a loving and generous father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, looking forward to each day and opportunities to spend time with his family. A visitation will be from 9-11 am, followed by a funeral service at 11 am, all on Jan. 2, at Palm Harbor United Methodist Church, 1551 Belcher Road, Palm Harbor. www.curlewhills.com