Susan Rhodes Berry

Passed away on January 2, 2025 at the age of 95. Born in Nashville on September 21, 1929, she was the daughter of Willoughby Overton and Susie Wade Rhodes. Susan spent her early days in Old Hickory as a proud child of the close-knit Dupont Corporation community. Her magical childhood took her family, in service to Dupont, to Wilmington, DE, Buffalo, NY, and Richland, WA, experiences that enriched her life greatly. As a young adult, she returned to Nashville where she met and married James I. Vance Berry. She happily supported him for 56 years through his legal career and civic leadership roles until his death in 2006.

Intrepid, to say the least, her life was filled with interest and adventure. In her 40s, she opened the Pine Cone Bookshop on West End Avenue. In her 50s, she took up flying and became an instrument rated private pilot. She and her Cessna 177 Cardinal became fixtures at John Tune Airport. Her close aviation community included Earl Scruggs, who was also an airport fixture, and Jimmy Buffett, who kept a plane in the hangar next to hers. She of course only knew them as fellow pilots. In her 60s, she designed and built a house in Maury County and enthusiastically took up horseback riding. One barn and two horses later, she had fully embraced the country life. Her homes were always overflowing with good books and good friends with whom she shared thoughtful perspectives on an extraordinary range of topics.

Susan thrived on quietly and often invisibly helping others. Her words and deeds of encouragement and support were felt by many. A book left on a doorstep, an encouraging message, a handful of daffodils, or an unexpected check in the mail were frequent acts of kindness toward individuals and organizations alike.

Susan loved her “young” friends and relatives, many of whom are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and she so appreciated her new and renewed friendships at Richland Place. She took great pleasure in bringing friends and family together, and she was touched when they so often included her in their own gatherings. And she especially delighted in following the lives of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Susan was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and her brother, Willoughby Overton Rhodes, Jr. She is survived by her children: Jeanette Berry Houghton (Henry, deceased), James I. Vance Berry, Jr. (Clare), and Susan Berry Bloomfield (Timothy), her grandchildren: Holles Houghton (Patrick Swindell), Henry Houghton, III (Lisa Setrakian), James I. Vance Berry, III (Elizabeth), and Grace Bloomfield, and her three great-grandchildren. Additionally, she is survived by many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Services will be private. A Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 19 from 3:00 to 5:00 in the Andrew Jackson Room at the Belle Meade Country Club.