Conrad Gary Bumgarner

Conrad Gary Bumgarner died on December 18th, 2017, one day before his 78th birthday. He was shopping for Christmas presents and groceries for the five children, five sons and daughters-in-law, sixteen grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren who were soon to fill his house, as they have for more than 55 years, on Christmas Day. His wife, Billie Charlene Bumgarner, was with him. They were married for 56 years.

The dozens of friends and family who poured into the emergency room were a testament to how many people loved Conrad, and how deeply they loved him. The embraces, phone calls, and prayers traced a constellation of love from Hickory, North Carolina to Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, and Keller, Texas.

Stories are the currency of family, and everyone had their favorite story about PawPaw. There was the time when his eldest daughter found him, at the age of 65, clinging to the upper branches of a pine tree with one hand while he wielded a chainsaw with the other. There was the time Billie looked out her kitchen window to see Conrad racing his moped down the street...with the kids skiing behind in their Radio Flyer. There was the time there wasn't enough money for dinner after a family trip, and each child got one bite of a footlong hotdog while Conrad drove through the night, stomach growling. There was the time he smashed his wrist and the doctors in the ER tried to take his wedding ring off his rapidly swelling finger; "Stop," he said. "I've never had it off." They taped the ring to the tip of his finger. From September 2nd, 1961, to December 18th, 2017, that was the only time that ring ever strayed from the deep groove on his left hand.

Every story about Conrad underscored his incredible strength. It came from courage; he earned that during his tour in Korea. It came from his lifelong faith; forged by his family in Hickory, and lived every day of his 46 years as a pillar of the Good Shepard Lutheran Church. It came from his remarkable family, who owe him everything we have, because he gave us everything he had.

Conrad was preceded in death by his parents, Vernon and Flora Belle, by his brothers George and Dennis, and by his sister Vernice. He is survived by his wife Billie, his children Greta, Stephanie, Cathy, Gary, and Phillip, his brother Charles, and his grandchildren Wes, Jessi, Kathleen, Allison, Bekah, Sarah Anne, Claire, Hannah, Carter, Alexandria, Ben, Sophia, Abby Faith, Jonah, Victoria, Noah, and his great-grandchildren Henry, Finn, and Jack.

The family will receive friends from 4-7 PM Thursday at the East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, 404 South Moore Road, East Ridge, TN.

Graveside services will be held at 9:30 AM Friday at Chattanooga National Cemetery with Pastor Chris Sheets officiating. A celebration of life service will follow at 11 AM Friday at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.