George Harold Bass

George Harold Bass, Nashville, TN, passed away suddenly on Thursday, August 25, 2016. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Lorena Johnson Bass; two daughters Patricia Jo (Trish) Holliday (Andy), and Janet Gail Castle (Walter); and two grandsons, George Russell Pulley (G.R.) and Garland Bruce Pulley; and numerous nieces and nephews. A native Nashvillian, George graduated from West End High School and Tennessee Technological University, with a degree in civil engineering. In 1959, he began his career at the State of TN Department of Transportation as a roadway design engineer. While at the State Department of Personnel, as the Director of Training, he founded the TN Government Executive Institute (T.G.E.I.), which continues today 30+ years later. Sen. Douglas Henry presented a Senate Resolution to George recognizing him for over 30 years of public service to the State of TN. George’s legacy of life was being the founder and director of Mountain T.O.P. (TN Outreach Project), a national nonprofit ministry located in the Cumberland Mountains of TN. Mountain T.O.P. has served thousands of youth and adults from all across the country for almost a half-century to have a servant heart and to give back to the people of great need in the Appalachian Mountain region. He was preceded in death by his mother, Marjorie Owen Nixon, and father, Harold Graham Bass, and mother-in-law, Lorena Groomes Johnson, all of Nashville. The Celebration of Life Service and Visitation will be held at Blakemore United Methodist Church, 3601 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205, Monday, August 29, 2016, visitation eleven until one o'clock with the Celebration of Life Service at one o'clock. There will be a gathering immediately following in the Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Mountain T.O.P. Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 128, Altamont, TN 37301 or the Blakemore UMC Endowment Fund, 3601 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205.