Bud was born in Nashville, TN, on August 14, 1936, to Clarence Alvin Lovell and Gertrude Lovell (nee Carney). He was the youngest of five siblings, but his family continued to grow with the addition of one younger half-sibling, along with four step-siblings. In 1955, Bud graduated from North Nashville High School.
For a time, Bud worked for Kroger and the Postal Service, and then enlisted in the US Marine Corps in January, 1956. After completing basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, he was stationed for the remainder of his enlistment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as a Company Clerk.
After his discharge from the Marines, Bud returned to Nashville in 1958, and began attending Belmont College. It was at Belmont that he met a Chattanooga native named Nancy Wade, and they eventually married in 1960 at Fairview Baptist Church in Nashville.
After their wedding, Bud began working in the trucking industry as a Dispatcher for Super Service Motor Freight, which was eventually purchased by a Lubbock-based competitor called TIME-DC.
In 1965, Bud was promoted with TIME-DC, accepting a position which relocated him from Nashville to Lubbock, Texas. Here the Lovells settled on 49th Street and became charter members of Bacon Heights Baptist Church.
After working for TIME-DC for many years, Bud began working at National Transportation Services in 1978. Five years later, he went to work for NTS Communications, the Lubbock-based long distance service provider so many Lubbockites would come to know. Bud would eventually become Vice President
of Human Resources at NTS, and was very well-loved by the company. After 20 years there, Bud retired from that role, but would continue working for another seven years as a motor freight coordinator, this time for Trailer Moves, Inc., before fully retiring in 2015.
In the early 1980s, the Lovells began attending First Baptist Church. Bud and Nancy were steadily involved through the years in their Sunday School classes, at both Bacon Heights and First Baptist. Bud also served both churches as a Deacon.
Bud loved his adopted home of Lubbock and was very civic-minded. Among his many activities and memberships was his decades-long service in the Lubbock Lions Club.
Bud was a “people-person” through and through, and sought out opportunities to help a person in need. He will be remembered fondly by a huge number of people, many of whom typically succumbed to Bud’s endless songs and corny puns. About his affinity for songs, it could be said this way: If Bud wasn’t singing
you a song, then he was getting ready to sing you a song. And while he loved to talk and talk in his soft-spoken ways, he was also a fantastic listener, and took a sincere interest in the person in front of him.
Bud was a devoted father to his children throughout their lives, as well as a caring Pawpaw to three granddaughters. His foundational desire was for his children, grandchildren, and the people he served, to share his faith in Jesus Christ, to become more Christ-like, and understand how much we are loved by
both God and himself.
In their marriage, Bud and Nancy kept their commitment to one another for the remainder of their lives, celebrating just shy of 60 years together, until her passing in July 2020. With Bud’s health needing more specific attention, his son Philip was blessed to move Bud to be near him in Chicago, IL. There Philip was
able to manage Bud’s care through the remainder of his life on earth.
Bud is survived by sister Doris Johnson (Jim), of Nashville; children Philip Lovell, of Chicago, IL; April Lovell, of Lubbock; and Beth Lovell Bennett (Greg), of Phoenix, AZ; and grandchildren Claire Bennett, Addy Bennett, and Reese Bennett, all of Phoenix, AZ; and numerous beloved family members in
Tennessee.
Bud was preceded in death by his wife Nancy Ann (Wade) Lovell; parents Clarence Lovell and Gertrude Carney Lovell; brothers Clarence Lovell Jr. (Bert), George Lovell (Dot), Edward Lovell (Jean), and sister Mary Katherine Lovell Richardson (Bill), all of Nashville; stepbrothers Virgil Brown (Nancy) and Gary
Brown (Ruth), of Nashville; stepsisters Dianne Holt (Jim), of Knoxville, TN, and Elaine McNaron (Robert), of Nashville.
A viewing will be conducted at Resthaven Funeral Home, 5740 19th St., on Thursday, April 4 from 3-7pm. A celebration of life will be held in the Chapel of First Baptist Church of Lubbock, 2201 Broadway St., on Friday, April 5, at 2pm. Graveside burial services will follow at Resthaven Memorial Park.
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