Born in Newton, Massachusetts, 22 February 1927, son of G. Harold Cave and Charlotte Elizabeth (Pelsang) Cave.
He graduated from Newton High School in June of 1944 and promptly enlisted in the U.S. Maritime Service. After basic seamanship training at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., he attended the U.S.M.S. Radio School located at Hoffman Island, N.Y. He graduated with the Second Class Radiotelegraph License issued by the Federal Communications Commission, and received the commission as Warrant Officer, Radio Electrician, in the Maritime Service.
He served as a Merchant Marine Radio Officer on two Liberty ships, taking materiel first to France, and then to India. While at anchorage in the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon), World War II came to an end. He continued his seagoing career, eventually sailing for the U.S. Army Transportation Service, which became the Military Sea Transport Service under the U.S. Navy. He was a long-time licensed Amateur Radio Operator, call sign W4KDX.
He met his first wife, Margaret Jo Horn, R.N. of East Bend, N.C., aboard the USAT GENERAL HERSEY. She served as one of the ship’s four Registered Nurses. They married in 1951 and had four children. They were married for almost fifty-two years, until her death in 2002.
He attended The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, earning a B.A. degree with Honors in Philosophy in 1956, the degree S.T.B. from Berkley Divinity School (affiliated with Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut in 1959, and the S.T.M. degree from the University of the South School of Theology, Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1964.
He was ordained Deacon in the Episcopal Church in June 1959 by Bishop Stokes of Massachusetts, and ordained Priest that same year by Bishop Henry Louttit of the Diocese of South Florida. He served Episcopal Churches in Okeechobee and Marathon, Florida, before moving to Tampa, Florida.
In Tampa, he was Chaplain and Master of Religious Studies for four years at the Berkeley Preparatory School, and also served as Assistant Priest in St. Mary’s, St. Andrew’s, and St. John’s Parishes. He also served for six months as Interim Vicar at St. John the Divine, Ruskin, Florida. Following that, he taught for twenty-three years at The University of Tampa as Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion. At age sixty-five, he retired from the University but remained active in the Episcopal Church. He served a summer chapel, The Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland, North Carolina, for
twenty-five summers. He celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination in 2009.
In April 2005, he married the former Constance Anne Hatges Speronis, a widow. She predeceased him in 2012.
He is survived by four children: Mrs. Nancy Scoville, Nashville, Tennessee, Stephen H. Cave, Benton, Arkansas, George “Sonny” H. Cave III, Mesa, Arizona, and Mrs. Catherine Rosenbloom, Los Angeles, California, and his eleven grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to: The Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland, North Carolina, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tampa, Florida, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, or the charity of one’s choice. A Celebration of Life service will held in Tampa Fl. At a later date.
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