Patrick Powell

Mr. Patrick Oliver "Butch" Powell, 62, retired Maury County teacher and resident of Nashville Highway, died Tuesday, April 10, 2007, at St. Thomas Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 P.M. Friday at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Rev. David McGregor and Rev. Terry Maynard officiating. Burial will be in Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19. The family will visit with friends Thursday from 4:00 - 8:00 P.M. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the University of Tennessee College of Law, 1505 West Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37996-1801, Habitat for Humanity International, 121 Habitat Street, Americus, GA 31709, or the charity of your choice. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Maury County native was the son of Elizabeth "Lib" Brackman Powell of Columbia and the late Samuel Oliver "Ollie" Powell. He was a 1965 graduate of Columbia Central High School and received his BS Degree from Middle Tennessee State University and his Masters Degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Mr. Powell taught auto mechanics at Columbia Central High School for twenty-five years. He joined the United States Air Force in 1965 and served four years during the Vietnam era. Afterwards, he joined the Tennessee National Guard and retired as a captain with a total of twenty-nine years military service to his country. While in the National Guard, he was named to the All Guard Pistol Squad where he became a high master pistol shooter and won numerous awards. He was one of very few shooters nationally to have a score of 2670. After his retirement from the National Guard, he was a member of the Springfield Armory Pistol Team. Mr. Powell was a certified NRA Pistol Instructor and taught permit classes for handguns locally. He was a member of the Elks Lodge 686, Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19, Maury County Retired Teachers Association, a life member of the National Rifle Association, and was a past member of the Kiwanis Club. He was a communicant of St. Catherine Catholic Church. In addition to his mother, he is survived by his wife of thirty-nine years, Laura Jean Chappell Powell of Columbia; one daughter, Leigh Anne Powell of Knoxville; one son, Patrick F. Powell of Knoxville; two sisters, Patricia Crumley of Murfreesboro; Martha (Jim) Skelley of Birmingham, Alabama; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by one brother, Henry Eugene "Gene" Powell and one sister, Mary Anne Davidson. Pallbearers will be Bobby Yeager, Roger Gilliam, Jim McCaig, Jonathan Bates, Frank Wells, Robin Howell, Jason Dodson, and Tommy Alexander. Honorary pallbearers will be Clyde Yeager, Jim Riley, Terry Labbe, Warren Coleman, Charles Pearson, Norman Moore, Don Willocks, Dr. Seth Cooper, Dr. Ruth Lamar, members of Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19, All Guard Pistol Team, Springfield Armory Pistol Team, and faculty and staff of Columbia Central High School.