Susan Barbara Leake Glasgow, age 95, died on Oct.28, 2013. Bobbie, as she was called, was predeceased by her husband of seventy years, Samuel McPheeters (Mack) Glasgow, Jr., who died in December of 2009.
She was born on October 13, 1918, in New York, New York, to Susan Hubbell Seymour Leake and Joseph Bryant (Bim) Leake, who died very young in 1918 and 1919. She is also predeceased by her brother William Seymour Leake and his wife Mary Louise, of Tacoma, Washington, and her sister Virginia Leake Clarke of Tucson, Arizona. She is survived by her sister Jane Leake Chisholm of Tacoma. She is also survived by her four children, Dr. Samuel McPheeters Glasgow, III (Diane Eggimann) of Cookeville, Susan Seymour Glasgow Brown (Allen Crockett), Emily Risley Glasgow Bruno (Dr. John III), Bryant (Bim) Leake Glasgow (Candace Floyd), eight grandchildren, John McPheeters Glasgow of Carlsbad, CA, Heather Lovae Glasgow of San Diego, CA, Barbara Keith Brown Payne (Richard James), Allen Crockett Brown Jr. (Elizabeth Quincy Hart (Lolly)), Harriet (Happy) Hoffman Brown Burnett (Robert Francis Mucklow) of Crested Butte, CO, John Peres Bruno (Elizabeth Lane Meeks) , Samuel Keith Bruno (Caroline Kelle Carter) of Durango, CO, William Leake Bruno of Portland, OR, and seven great-grandchildren, James Glasgow Payne, William Brown Payne, Susanna Keith Payne, Samuel Crockett Brown, Elizabeth Ely Brown, Robert Allen Crockett Burnett, and Raina Frances Meeks, and many nieces and nephews.
Bobbie and her three siblings were raised by their grandfather, Julius Hubbell Seymour, in Stamford, Conn., and Lake Champlain; when he died in 1922, they went to Tacoma, Washington, to live with his brother, William Wolcott Seymour and his wife Emily Risley, who had no children of their own. There they grew up and their home was filled with love, laughter, dogs and cats, and they were exposed to the finest in education and culture. As a young girl Bobbie attended Annie Wright Seminary. Her adored Uncle Bill died in 1929, her brother and sisters were off at boarding school, and after a series of terrifying kidnap threats in the era of the Lindbergh tragedy, she was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend Ward Belmont School for Girls. In Nashville, she also had many welcoming cousins, aunts and uncles in the Leake family, and through them she met a tall handsome young man whom she later married in the Chapel at Wright Seminary. His family of five sisters became like her own; after Mack finished Law School at the University of Washington, he served the US in World War II for three years, and he and Bobbie and their twins Susie and Sam lived in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Washington, DC, where they made lifelong friends. They then moved back to Nashville where Emily and Bim were born, and they raised their family; however, every third summer they and their Arizona relatives would visit ‘Aunt Emmie’ at her place on American Lake in Tacoma, taking different ways to get there via the Westerly route, the Northerly route, or one year flying to California and driving up the coast, thereby exposing their children to an enormous part of the great American West and Northwest.
Bobbie was busy in Nashville with many activities; during the War she was Captain of the Red Cross Motor Corps and transported whatever was needed plus Meals on Wheels to the Veterans’ Hospital. Later other activities included those involving her children’s schools, activities at First Presbyterian Church, USA (where she received a great honor from the Presbyterian Women of the Church), the Junior League, the Review Club, the Centennial Club, her garden club, the National Association of the Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee, and the Belle Meade Country Club. Fascinated by genealogy, she traced many lines of her family as well as Mack’s family, some of whom founded this country in the 1600’s and some participated in the Revolutionary War. Relatives from all over the country sent her stories and pictures, and she compiled quite a family book. One of our family stories has always been “if the house catches on fire, save that book!” She also had strong interests in needlework and reading.
Bobbie was a great inspiration to her children, grandchildren, and her friends as she had such an interesting and challenging childhood; we will always remember her as brave, loyal, strong, smart, independent, supportive, and always optimistic; she had a great empathy for those who needed bolstering or self confidence, and she showed great courage in the face of adversity. On her kitchen wall was a slogan by Susan B Anthony: “Failure is Impossible.” She will be greatly missed by family, friends, and her special caregivers Tinnie Clay, Juston Shults, Annabelle Bainum, Emma Davis and Edward Coffman.
There will be a visitation with the family in Courtenay Hall of First Presbyterian Church on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013 from 10am until 12pm, after which there will be a service in the Sanctuary conducted by Dr. Todd B. Jones and Dr. Sandra Randleman. Her grandchildren will serve as pallbearers. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to The First Presbyterian Church, Harpeth Hall School’s Barbara Leake Glasgow Scholarship, Alive Hospice of Nashville, or The Humane Association of Nashville.
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