Russell Lee Petty

This spring when Mark and I were in visiting, we were sitting at the kitchen table after breakfast, and Dad said, “Sabrina-I have something I want you to do for me. I want you to write my obituary.” So here it is, and I am so proud to be able to honor his last request of me.

Russell Lee Petty was born January 11, 1932 and passed away Wednesday, October 16, 2013. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Garnet Petty and his brother, Roy H. Petty.

Russell was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee and loved to hunt, fish, golf, and play baseball at which he excelled. Through the years we have had countless people tell us that they went to see Dad pitch even as a youngster. He attended Goodlettsville High School where he set the all-time Interscholastic League strikeout record with 23 strikeouts, a record which still stands today. After graduating, he had three offers from major league teams. Dad always liked to tell the story that the scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Shaky Kane, was sitting in the house the night he graduated from high school. He accepted the first baseball scholarship ever offered at Tennessee Tech because his parents wanted him to go to college. He played baseball on Bluegrass music’s Bill Monroe’s travelling baseball team the summer before college and was featured in the Bluegrass Unlimited magazine article, “Russell Petty-One of the Blue Grass “Boys of Summer,” written by Dick Bowden in 1995.

While at Tennessee Tech Russell was drafted into the US Army and proudly served during the Korean War (Dad never called it the Korean Conflict-he said it was war.) At the end of the war before coming home, he played baseball on the Army Corp. of Engineers baseball team, being the only member who wasn’t a professional.

After Korea, Russell went to work for the US Army Corp. of Engineers on the survey party. From there he went to work as a Ranger at Old Hickory, spent a few years uptown at the District Office, then came to J. Percy Priest as Assistant Resource Manager when the dam was being constructed and stayed until his retirement after 36 years in the Corp.

Dad spent many happy hours in retirement hunting, fishing, golfing, listening to bluegrass music and spending time with his family, friends and grand-dogs. Mom said Dad woke up each morning trying to decide, “What toy he wanted to play with and who was going to join him.” The last few years were hard on him, not being able to do the things he enjoyed so much.

Dad loved his “girls.” He said he knew, “Nancy was the one for him after their first date,” which took place at the Tennessee State Fair in 1957. Dad was my and Sheila’s champion -reading us stories, teaching us to fish, the alphabet, the multiplication tables, to tell time by drawing countless clocks, enjoying wildlife, mow the yard and do a lot of things around the house. Sheila changed out a friend’s oven element telling her, “I know how to do that-my Dad taught me.” Dad loved to hear Sheila sing and always tried to come hear her wherever it was. Sheila says he was her biggest fan. He was so glad when I learned to play golf and we spent many happy hours out on the golf course together with Mark.

How do you sum up the life of someone larger than life? Someone who enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest? We were so blessed to have him for 81 years. I hope I was able to do him justice and was so proud to call him, “Dad.”

Love, Sabrina

October 17, 2013