John Haskell Tidman, Jr.

Died October 16, 2024, age 93. His beloved wife of 57 years, Dr. Annette Irwin Tidman, and his sister, Corneille Howard, and a ward, John William Banhardt, precede him in death. He has two daughters, Dr. Rachel Tidman (Brad) Kaiser and Rebecca Diane Tidman, and four grandchildren, Jack, Tom, Marie, and Katie Kaiser, and a sister, Allison (John) Beasley. His parents, Mary D. McCarn Tidman and J. Haskell Tidman, precede him in death.

He was an alumnus of Duncan College Preparatory School. He attended the University of the South, and later received his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. During the Korean War he was in the Navy Air Corps teaching electronics at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, Millington, TN. Later he was a flight engineer with the Navy Attack Bomber Squadron VC-6 based at North Island Naval Air Station at San Diego, and then with his squadron’s detachment at Atsugi, Japan. His Squadron flew the AJ-2 North American Savage Attack Bomber specifically designed to carry the atomic bomb. It was the largest carrier-based plane at the time. His days were spent doing simulated bombing runs on targets. The AJ-2 was a high-altitude bomber with two turbo charged piston engines and a jet engine in the fuselage. During his tour in the service, his squadron also flew off the aircraft carriers, the USS Midway, the USS Essex and the USS Oriskany. While based at North Island Naval Air Station, Haskell spent many hours sailing around San Diego Bay in his sailboat that he built and kept at the Coronado Yacht Club.

After leaving the Navy, he continued his education at Vanderbilt University. He then joined his family’s business, Emma’s Flowers and Gifts, in 1958. In the florist business, he was president of the Middle Tennessee Allied Florists Association and was a chairman and also District Representative of the local and district levels of FTD. He taught floral design at Watkins Institute. He was inducted into the American Academy of Floriculture in 1988. His father and Haskell founded the Ten Group, a group of 16 of the largest florists in the U.S. and Canada. These florists met semiannually as a peer group of business associates. This group was started in 1958 and is still going strong.

A life-long Episcopalian he served a term on the Vestry at Christ Episcopal Church, and is currently a member of St. George’s. His religion was most important to him. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Nashville and the International Fellowship of Motorcycling Rotarians. He was a Paul Harris Fellow.

He was president of the Megalops Club, and a member of Belle Meade County Club.

Haskell’s hobbies were traveling all over the world with his wife, riding touring motorcycles, photography and tennis. He started playing tennis in the summer while a student at Vanderbilt. He played for some fifty years, many times playing four times per week until his knees gave out.

As an avid motorcyclist who started at age 14 when he strapped a Whizzer motor on his bicycle, he has traveled more than 750,000 miles on two wheels, (this is equivalent to riding around the earth at the equator 30 times).

Starting out from his home in Nashville, he has ridden to and toured in every state in the US, most of Canda, including three times to Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. He has motorcycled through New Zealand, Scandinavia, and the Alpine Countries, including the mountains of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia. He was a Charter Life Member of the American Motorcyclist Association. In 1998, Haskell organized the Nashville area leg for the National Relay Riders’ Tour, known as “the Pony Express Riders” for the Ride for Breast Cancer Research, “Journey of Hope”, for the lady riders who passed through Nashville on the way to the west coast. He led some thirty lady riders from Nashville to Memphis on this leg of their cross country tour. For seventeen years he was a Certified Instructor for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the TN Department of Safety. In 1998 he was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Safety Advisory Board. For 30 years, he was an active participant and leader of the Middle Tennessee Riders Group. He was also a member of the Nashville BMW Motorcycle Club.

Haskell at the age of 79 years old, had to give up riding due to health issues. So, he traded in his motorcycles for a red convertible, and just kept on “trucking”, adding another 100,000 miles to his traveling distance to daily and weekly destinations. There was hardly a road or town within 75 miles of Nashville that Haskell has not traveled.

Haskell and Annette spent the last 30 years of their lives touring most of the world.

Visitation will be 12:30 pm October 19, 2024, at St. George’s Episcopal Church. Funeral services will be held at St. George’s, 4715 Harding Road at 1:30 pm October 19, 2024. Private interment will be at Mount Olivet Cemetery. Flowers will be accepted, or donations to your favorite charity will be appreciated.