SAMUEL ALEXANDER TINKLER

SAMUEL ALEXANDER TINKLER, Jr., 93

LAKELAND - A funeral service for Samuel Alexander Tinkler, Jr., formerly of Lakeland, Florida, will be held at 10:00AM on Monday, August 4, 2014, at Gentry-Morrison Funeral Home Southside Chapel, 1727 Bartow Road in Lakeland. Burial will follow in Oak Hill Burial Park in Lakeland. He died July 18, 2014 at Superior Residences in Niceville, Florida, due to natural causes.
Mr. Tinkler , 93, was born May 7, 1921, in Tampa, Florida, to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Alexander Tinkler, Sr. and Mary Phillips Tinkler. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1948, where he was an honor graduate and student editor of the Georgia Bar Journal. He was granted a Fellowship to Duke University in 1948. Mr. Tinkler began his career with the Trust Company of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia, and retired in 1984, as Executive Vice President with SunTrust Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was Chairman of the Florida Bankers Association Trust Division, Director of the Wealth and Investment Management School and named to the Florida Bankers Association Trust Hall of Fame in 2004.
Mr. Tinkler was a veteran of World War II, having served with the U.S.S. Navy Amphibious Forces in Okinawa and the Philippines from 1943-1946. His unit led assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In his retirement years he enjoyed reading and writing about historical events from the Civil War and World Wars I and II.
His faith and family were priorities throughout his life. He actively served as a member and elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Plantation, Florida for many years and was also a member and Sunday school teacher in the Presbyterian Church in the Highlands in Lakeland, Florida during his latter years. He enjoyed traveling, and earned his private pilot's license before retirement.
Mr. Tinkler was preceded in death by his wife of 44 years, Edith Chesnut Tinkler of Lakeland, Florida. He is survived by his two siblings, Dr. William Phillips Tinkler (Elsie) of Greenwood, South Carolina and Ann Tinkler Devlin (John, deceased) of Greenville, South Carolina, sister-in-law, Elizabeth Chesnut (Ray, deceased) of Aiken, South Carolina, and by his four children, Carol T. Scott (Robert) of Simpsonville, South Carolina, Dianne T. Faulk (Fred, deceased) of Starkville, Mississippi, Sam A. Tinkler, III of Hampton Bays, New York and Steven L. Tinkler (Lori) of Lighthouse Point, Florida. His grandchildren include Sandra Craig (Eric), Shannon Harris (Patrick), Leah Kemp (Edward), Emily Radosta (Scott), Carson Tinkler and Ryan Tinkler. He also leaves eight great-grandchildren, Caroline and Cathryn Craig, Brandon and Noah Harris, Cline and Edith Kemp, and Rylan and Madeline Radosta. The family of Mr. Tinkler would like to express their sincere gratitude to the staff of Superior Residences of Niceville, Florida for their dedication and wonderful care of Mr. Tinkler, and to Sandra and Eric Craig for their loving care and attention to Sandra's grandfather the past several years in Niceville.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can me made to the Presbyterian Church in the Highlands, 1010 Lake Miriam Drive, Lakeland, Florida 33812 in memory of Samuel A. Tinkler, Jr.