Robert Terry Rutledge

1950 - 2021

Robert Terry Rutledge, (known to most as "Terry") 71, of Brimfield, OH, died peacefully on Sunday, May 23rd, 2021, at the Justin T. Rogers Hospice Care Center after a short but courageous battle against cancer. He was born in January 1950 in Akron, OH to Robert Earl and Norma Jean (Bowdle) Rutledge. Terry graduated from Copley High School in 1968. He was voted "Most Athletic" by his senior class having played and excelled at football, basketball, baseball, and track. He served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserve from 1972 to 1977. Terry's lifelong passion was his love for horses. He loved being around them, caring for them, training them, riding and driving them, showing them and breeding them. Horses and Terry had a mutual, natural affinity for one another. Terry has been involved with Morgan horses most of his life. The Rutledge family established the extraordinarily successful Morgan show stable, Serenity Farm, in Copley and later in Granger Township. As a child, Terry rode his Grandfather Bowdle's ponies, making sure and proving they were child safe. He remembers following his aunt, Marilyn Bowdle Ackerman, around the show ring at his first horse show, winning the red ribbon behind Marilyn's blue one. Terry was about 14 when he got his first paying job as a horse trainer, working and exhibiting an Arabian stallion. Through the 1960's and 1970's, Terry was integrally involved with the family's breeding, training, and exhibiting operations at Serenity Farm, taking many horses to regional and national titles. In fact, it was through horses that Terry met his wife, Susan. Susan was boarding horses at Terry's sister and brother-in-law's Vantage Point Stables. Terry came for a visit and started helping Susan with her horses and her riding, winning her heart as well. In 1995, Terry and Susan established their own stable, TRSW Morgans. After years of leasing stalls at various barns, they fulfilled their dream of purchasing their own small horse farm in Brimfield, OH in the autumn of 1999. In 2000, the first foal to carry the TRSW prefix was born. Terry and Susan celebrated 19 cherished contented years of marriage on November 2, 2020. Preceded in death by his parents and brother, Larry, he is survived by his wife, Susan Walker; his brother, Allan Rutledge and his wife Marilyn; his sister, Kathi Hummel and her husband Craig; numerous nephews and nieces, and great nephews and great nieces. His wide circle of friends and family will all miss Terry's generous and caring nature, his playful sense of humor and his loving ways. Family and friends will be received Friday, June 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Anthony Funeral Home Kucko-Anthony-Kertesz Chapel, 1990 S. Main St., Akron, OH 44301, where a Memorial Service will be held at 7:00 p.m. A celebration of Terry's life will be held Saturday, June 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Vantage Point Stable in Sharon Center, Ohio.