Joseph Howard Cartwright

Joseph Howard Cartwright, formerly of Murray, Kentucky, died at Community Hospice Warner Center in Fernandina Beach, Florida on September 5, 2023, at the age of 84.
Joe was born on May 16th, 1939, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Howard and Frances Cartwright. He was known as Coach to many at Murray High, Professor and Dean to students and faculty at Murray State, Dad to two sons, and Pepaw to three grandchildren, and most of all husband for 64 years to his high school sweetheart, Pam.
He grew up in Madison, Tennessee, and played football at Madison High School. Joe received a football scholarship to attend Murray State University, where he excelled as a running back. After graduating from MSU, he accepted a job teaching history and serving as an assistant football coach under Preston "Ty" Holland at Murray High. In 1963 he accepted a head coaching job at Christian County High. Three years later, Joe and Pam made the decision to move their family back to Nashville, where Joe completed an MA and Ph.D. in History at Vanderbilt University. Returning to his alma mater to accept a position in Murray State's History Department in 1970, he turned his Vanderbilt dissertation into an acclaimed book from the University of Tennessee Press (1976) titled The Triumph of Jim Crow: Tennessee Race Relations in the 1880s, documenting the legislative reassertion of white supremacy in the state following the Civil War and Reconstruction. Dr. Cartwright was known at MSU for his courses in Southern History and his Honors seminars, for his long service as chair of MSU's History department and his eight years as Dean of the College of Humanistic Studies. He served on editorial boards for the University Press of Kentucky and the Kentucky Historical Society, and was an American Council on Education Fellow (1989-90) at James Madison University.
Joe and Pam entertained many friends, faculty and international students from Murray State while living on Kentucky Lake. They traveled throughout the world with Murray students and on their own. Joe loved jogging, tennis, fishing, gardening, and gourmet meals at their Kentucky Lake home until they moved to Fernandina Beach, Florida in 2017. More than anything Joe loved his family. His love for his sons and grandchildren Jesse, Maya, and Elizabeth, was fierce and full of pride in them all.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, David Cartwright. Joe is survived by his wife Pamela Cartwright; two sons, Keith Cartwright and wife Amanda of Jacksonville, FL; Jeff Cartwright and wife Vickie of Murray; three grandchildren, Jesse and Maya Cartwright of Jacksonville, and Elizabeth Cartwright and fiancé Brian Bradley Wilbanks Jr, of Birmingham, AL; a sister, Sandra Morris of Tucker, GA; a sister-in-law, Mary Cartwright of Madison, TN; and three nieces and two nephews.
A Memorial service will be scheduled at a later date. Expressions of sympathy may be made to Community Hospice, Warner Center, 1348 South 18th Street, Ste 101, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034.
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