Durene "D.C." Minchey

Durene “D.C.” Minchey entered this world in a tiny house located in the remote hills and hollows near the city of Gainesboro in Jackson County, TN on June 17, 1937, the son of the late Hardy Hagar and Ora Lee Minchey. He entered into God's paradise at 11:19 P.M. on October 23, 2014 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN with his family by his side. He lived in Jackson County, TN, until he was about 5 years old, and he then moved outside of Goodlettsville, TN, where he got his first job at the age of 15 at the Dorris & Swift Grocery Store to support himself through Goodlettsville High School, where he graduated from in 1957. He experienced a life-changing event at age 19, when his mother, Ora, passed away from pancreatic cancer. He never did get completely over losing his beloved mother at such a young age. Before she passed away, she asked him to promise her that he would finish college at Lipscomb College since he was the first of her children to attend college, which he was determined to do. To keep his promise, he had to work to pay his way through college by working at the Green Hills Market full-time for the first 4 ½ years of college, and then cut back his work hours some the last 1 ½ years since he was taking 18-20 hours at school. After 6 years of hard work and perseverance, he finally earned his bachelor’s degree from Lipscomb majoring in Sociology and minoring in Bible and speech. During his college years, he met the love of his life, Cora Lillian Cope, when she was a freshman at Lipscomb, in 1960 at a skating rink on Thompson Lane in Nashville. After dating 3 years they got married on July 5, 1963. They moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where he worked in the Mechanical Division at Kellogg’s from 1963-1968. D.C. and Lillian quickly tired of dealing with the harsh winters in Michigan, especially once their daughter, DeeLaine, was born in 1966, so they decided to move to a warmer climate in Austin, Texas, in 1968, where he worked at the Texas Highway Department in the highway research division from 1968 until he was laid off in 1976 due to state budget cuts. During this time, they also celebrated the birth of their son, Nathan Derek, in 1969. After being laid off in 1976, D.C. was a self-employed home builder from 1976-1982. He then had a home repair/maintenance business from 1982 to when he finally retired in June of 2013 to move to Franklin, TN after 45 years of living in Texas. It was devastating to him when his soul-mate, Lillian, had a stroke on December 10, 2012, that left her right side paralyzed. Since her stroke, he’s been diligently by her side, even with his own failing health, doing all he could to help her recover and also to help her do the things she could no longer do for herself. Because of her stroke, D.C. and Lillian decided to sell their home in Pflugerville, Texas that he’d built 34 years earlier, and take their daughter, DeeDee, up on her offer for them to move into her home with her in Franklin, TN, where they’ve lived since June 23, 2013. Although it was a big adjustment and they were sad to say farewell to their son Nate and his sweet family as well as their church family at Cameron Road that they'd worshipped with for the last 45 years, they both enjoyed being back in the beautiful rolling hills of their home state of Tennessee and getting to know their new church family at Berry’s Chapel Church of Christ in Franklin, TN, in recent months. D.C. and Lillian devoted themselves to raise their children, DeeDee and Nate, to love and serve God and others. D.C. is survived by his devoted wife of 51 years, Cora Lillian Cope Minchey; daughter, DeeLaine “Dee Dee” Minchey Hoover of Franklin, TN; son, Nathan Derek "Nate" Minchey (Gretchen) of Jarrell, TX. They had grandparent pride in Alyssa, Jesse, Jonathan, Lauren, Casey, and Kobe to whom D.C. was their “Granddaddy”, and he is also survived by several nieces and nephews. There was a tight-knit bond between Durene and his surviving sibling, Bettye Minchey Wilkerson (Reid) of Shelbyville, TN. Durene’s departure was preceded by three brothers: Donal Minchey, Sidney Minchey, and Hansel Minchey and by one sister, Bonnie Minchey Jones. D.C. had a gentle demeanor and modeled good character and the spiritual and ethical principles that were the essence of his life. Being a child of the depression, he was a very frugal person and could make do with very little for himself, instead choosing to sacrifice in order to provide more for his family. He was always very loyal to and had a deep, abiding love for God, his family, and his country. The family would like to thank all of the wonderful health professionals at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who treated D.C. with the utmost care and compassion in the final days of his life. The celebration of D.C.’s earthly life will be held at the Dignity Hall Chapel at Woodlawn Roesch-Patton Memorial Gardens in Nashville, TN on Monday, October 27, 2014 at 1:00 P.M. with Andy Baker leading the service. Interment will follow the service at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends before the service from 11:30 A. M. to the funeral hour at 1:00 P.M. Memorial contributions may be made in lieu of flowers to Camp of the Hills (campofthehills.org) in Marble Falls, TX or to Agape Nashville (agapenashville.org).