Chester "Chet" Lloyd

Chester Lloyd is at rest with the Lord. He left this life peacefully on Friday, December 19th, having reached the age of 94. He was born in Frostburg, Maryland on February 29, 1920, and grew up around Morgantown, West Virginia where his dad and brothers mined coal. He graduated high school and finished college, quite an achievement for a member of a coal miner family. He married his beloved wife, Betty Bishop, in 1942, and they enjoyed 67 years of marriage before her death in 2009.

He enlisted in the Army Ordinance corps in 1942 where he became a Sergeant Instructor and was later deployed with the 10th Mountain Division and served his country in Italy during WWII. After the Italian front was settled he moved back to the U.S. and began training for the invasion of Japan. The war ended, however, so he and Betty began making plans for the future.

Chester, or Chet as his friends called him, entered Dental School at the University of Oregon and upon graduation accepted a position at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry in the Department of Children’s Dentistry in Memphis where he and his family have resided ever since. While in Memphis he discovered First Evangelical Church and joined in 1950. He was a faithful member until his health declined. He served as a deacon, elder, Sunday school teacher, youth worker, choir member and was instrumental in starting the senior citizens’ ministry called Triple L.

Chester was the first certified and licensed Pediatric Dentist in the tri-state area and was a pioneer in the field of Children’s Dentistry, hospital dentistry and dentistry for the handicapped. He was one of the leaders in having fluoride added to Memphis’ water supply and was chairman of the Fluoride Committee. He served as an Associate Professor at U.T. Dental School and Director of the Postgraduate Department of Pedodontics. He belonged to the American Dental Society, American Society of Dentistry for Children, and was a founding member of the Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped among other organizations.

Chester gave his life to Christ at the age of 11 at a little church in the foothills of West Virginia and never forsook His Savior. His was a life well lived, an example to his children, grandchildren and friends of what it means to follow Christ.

He leaves behind his son, Ronald Lloyd (Carolyn), daughter, Karen Gail Ammons (Neal), son, Larry Lloyd (Becky); seven grandchildren who lovingly called him Paw Paw: Elizabeth Walsh (Rodney), Josh Morgan (Anna Kathryn), Marshal Lloyd, Leah Lloyd Hillis (Josh), Hannah Lloyd, Charis Lloyd Ellington (Douglass), and Lydia Lloyd Berryman (Brian); and eight great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to First Evangelical Church at 735 Ridgelake Blvd, Memphis, TN 38120 or the Memphis Leadership Foundation at 1548 Poplar, Memphis, TN 38104.

Visitation at the Memphis Funeral Home, 5599 Poplar, on Tuesday, December 23 starting at 12:30 with funeral immediately afterwards at 2:00 P.M.