Robert L. Minter, Sr. passed away peacefully, Sunday, October 19, 2008 at his home in East Knoxville, where he lived with Mildred, his loving wife of 67 years. He was 95 years old.
Robert L. Minter, Sr. served as a deacon at Mount Olive Baptist Church for more than 60 years. He coordinated custodial and food service for the church for over 40 years. He was a loyal Sunday School teacher and also served with distinction as superintendent of the Sunday School for 42 years. He was named superintendent emeritus and deacon emeritus.
He served as assistant superintendent of Sunday School at Lilly Grove Baptist Church in Selma, Ala., during his early adulthood. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army serving during World War II at Camp Benning, Ga., Camp Gunnerfield, Ala. (now Maxwell Field) and Camp Alexander, La. (now Fort Polk). He was a staff sergeant. He is a lifetime member of the Masons, Harmony Lodge # 48.
Robert L. Minter, Sr. was born in 1913 in Selma, Alabama. He attended Selma University High School then went on to attend Tuskegee Institute. He had the honor of being a student of George Washington Carver, an esteemed professor at Tuskegee. There, he received a vocational degree in culinary arts. Mr. Minter was a well-known chef in Knoxville and worked for some of the city’s finest eateries, including the Laurel Room in Miller’s Department store, the Highland Grill, Spike’s and Underwood Catering. In Tennessee he met and married the former Mildred Holloway in 1941. To this union were born six children: Robert, Jr. (Regina), Knoxville; Annie (Casey, dec.) Jones, Knoxville: Wilbert D. (Carolyn), Knoxville; Lillie (Jerry) Garner, Neptune, New Jersey, Irma James, Atlanta, and James (Viola Woods, special friend), Knoxville. Robert Minter was proud grandfather to 12: Robert L. Minter, III, Karen Jones, Casey Maurice (Marie) Jones and Judge Kita (J. Steven) Barnes: Wilbert Douglas (Joyce) Minter, Jr., Jasen Bradley, Justin Bradley, Caroline Bradley, Jerry Garner II and Diedra Garner, O’Hara James and O’Shannon James. He was great-grandfather to seven. He often baked the world’s best chocolate chip cookies for his “grands,” the community and anyone who visited.
He was preceded in death by his mother Annie Eugenia Adams, his paternal father, Claude Lewis and his adoptive father, William Joshua Minter, and brothers Fred Minter, Thomas James “Uncle Buddy” Lewis and Claude Dixon and a sister, Lela Mary Minter. He is survived by siblings Lillie Irby, Selma, Ala., Anne Boyd, Fla., and William Madison (Hattie), Montgomery, Ala.; special nephews and nieces, Della Ruth (James) Strong; Arthur (Mary) Irby, Angela Warren and Johnnie Boyd, William (Jacquelyn) Minter and Valda (William) Sanders; special friends Mrs. Willie Crutcher, Ella Faye Lewis, Azzie Lee Hall, Aileen Shell and Mae Blanche Moore, the devoted Deacon Board of Mount Olive and the entire Mount Olive Church family, the Wilder Place neighborhood, and a host of cousins, and many other extended family members in Selma, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa, Ala., Detroit, Mich., and Sparta, Georgia..
Family will receive friends at Mount Olive Baptist Church, 1601 Dandridge Avenue, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008, from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Masonic rites will be conducted by Harmony Lodge # 48 from 6:30 –
6:45 and services will begin at 7:00 p.m. Interment, 11:30 a.m., Friday, at Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, 5901 Lyons View Pike In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests donations to the Crutcher Memorial Youth Center, P.O. Box 6747, Knoxville, 37914. Phone (865) 637-7766 or the Garden of Discovery Learning Center at Mount Olive Baptist Church. Arrangements by JARNIGAN &SON MORTUARY.