In Memoriam 2023: Around the City

Charles Frederick Strobel

Priest, baseball fan, tireless advocate for the unhoused

No one would have enjoyed Aug. 11’s The Gathering: A Community Celebration of the Life of Charles Frederick Strobel more than the man himself. The native Nashvillian ordained to priesthood was Charles to family, Charlie to friends and Father to many of those he served through his life’s work at Room In The Inn, the organization he founded in 1986 to shelter and help the homeless.

A convoy of Father Ryan buses preceded by a police escort brought RITI clients from the Campus for Human Development to First Horizon Park, its Germantown location a nod to the Sulphur Dell ballpark where Strobel fell in love with baseball as a young boy. Hundreds of attendees — from political, nonprofit and business leaders to those still enduring homelessness — were seated in the stands from first base to third; Strobel’s smiling face beamed from the park’s guitar-shaped scoreboard.

On deck, musician Dave Pomeroy led a band, backing up Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller on “Hallelujah” and The McCrary Sisters on “Turn! Turn! Turn!” At home plate, the Rev. Becca Stevens eulogized her mentor. A choir of his great-nieces and great-nephews sang Maroon 5’s “Memories.” But what would have delighted Strobel most was when niece Katie Seigenthaler asked everyone to rise for the seventh-inning stretch and join in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

It was Strobel’s dream to play professional baseball, and he attended every game he could — from Little League to college ball to spring training to that time he was a guest chaplain for the New York Yankees on Yogi Berra Day in 1999. That’s when David Cone pitched the third perfect game in Yankee history. Fortunately for the unhoused, the poor, the hungry, the broken, the death row inmates, the targets of racism and bigotry, and the victims of social injustice, Strobel didn’t make the MLB cut. Even so, through his 70s, he was a serious competitor, playing any position that got him on a field.

Strobel spent the last months of his life working with family and friends on a memoir that tells how he came to embrace his role as “worthless servant.” There are many references to baseball, a game he understood as a metaphor for life and that he appreciated for its lack of a clock and infinite possibilities. Because right down to the ninth inning, with two outs and nobody on, hope still endures. —Kay West

Bettie Kirkland

Advocate, organizer, ‘true Tennessean’

Margaret E. “Bettie” Kirkland died in October at age 63, just one year after retiring from her post as executive director of local nonprofit Project Return. In her 11 years at the organization, Kirkland moved its Nashville headquarters, created two social enterprises and a permanent housing program, and established an additional location in Chattanooga — all in the name of second chances for those who had been incarcerated.  

“It’s so invigorating and exciting to be a part of someone’s good future,” Kirkland said in a June 2022 podcast interview. “I just invite people to think about that, and to think about justice and fairness not so much in terms of prison sentence or the punitiveness, but to think about justice and fairness aligned with freedom and opportunity and the ability to have that very American second chance.” 

Kirkland said she read about Project Return for the first time when she was applying for the lead role, which shows the room she had in her heart for several causes. She had a law degree and worked in the field before becoming a stay-at-home mother to her son Joseph and daughter Clare. She worked for the Fisk University Race Relations Institute, then the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church First Response Center for HIV prevention.  

When Kirkland retired, state Rep. John Ray Clemmons brought a resolution to the state legislature. It read, in part, “Bettie Kirkland exemplifies the spirit and allegiance to family and community that are characteristic of a true Tennessean.” —Hannah Herner 

Terry Eugene Cunningham

Educator, father, veteran

Ever joyful and bearing a constant smile, my father Terry Eugene Cunningham was a “glue guy” — the person who loves hard, offers great advice and consistently brings loved ones together. A loving family man and friend, he fought liver cancer head on until his passing in July. His last calls and texts were shared in true Terry fashion — checking on family and friends, and letting his supervisor at Metro Nashville Public Schools know he was not feeling well and might not make it to work that day. He was truly a hardworking educator until the end!

Terry was born in North Nashville on Dec. 1, 1963, to a teacher and a nurse. His family eventually moved to Detroit, but always spent summers here. After graduation he accepted the call to become one of “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” Upon his honorable discharge, Terry moved back to Nashville, started a family of his own and became the electrician tech lead for MNPS. He took pride in this role, overseeing all Metro schools event setups across the city, highlighting the hard work of students and teachers. Graduation season, though exhausting for him, was his favorite. He made it his mission to ensure every student, educator and family had fond memories to look back on.

Terry commanded respect, though he never demanded it. In a group chat with his family labeled “SixHams,” he often mixed jokes with words of wisdom. With his cousins, co-workers and other close friends, he helped establish and maintain traditions that kept everyone connected and reminded them that they were loved. —Christiane Buggs

Dr. James Snell 

Physician, leader, husband

Other than the time he spent completing a fellowship in clinical pulmonary disease at New York Hospital, Dr. James Snell — known to many as Jim — was a Vanderbilt lifer. He obtained his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1958, and in 1963 he joined the Vanderbilt faculty as an instructor of medicine. Dr. Snell was VUMC’s first fellowship-trained pulmonary medicine specialist, was the first physician in Tennessee to perform a flexible bronchoscopy and directed pulmonary medicine from 1969 to 1973. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Snell participated on 37 medical center and university committees, including the Vanderbilt Hospital Medical Board. Dr. Robert Miller — the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Medicine, who also trained in pulmonary medicine at VUMC — says “Vanderbilt pulmonary medicine was built on the shoulders of Jim Snell.” So was Vanderbilt’s medical intensive care unit, which Dr. Snell established in 1972. He served 10 years as its medical director. 

Jim Snell’s request for a natural burial was honored at Larkspur Conservation on July 8. In September, his wife of 65 years, Catherine Cheatham Snell, was naturally interred beside him. —Kay West

Enrique Pupo-Walker

Author, painter, father

My father, Enrique Pupo-Walker, was a man from another time. He grew up in Holguin, Cuba, and left in 1957 after graduating from the Universidad de la Habana. He put down roots in Nashville several years later, eager to study literature and become a scholar. Indeed, he became a widely respected academic, appointed Centennial Professor of Spanish Literature at Vanderbilt University and publishing six books and an important three-volume history of Latin American literature. 

But he was perhaps better known in Nashville as an accomplished painter who was featured regularly in art shows. His work now hangs in homes across the city. His humility, intellect, generous spirit and sense of humor earned him much affection. An elegant man, he always wore cologne, carried pressed handkerchiefs, and used nice briefcases and stationery. He never learned to type or use a smartphone, but he was incredibly connected to the world around him. He wrote letters, invited friends for tea or a copa, painted landscapes and images of the sea, traveled widely, listened to jazz and boleros, grew roses, and was devoted to the Atlanta Braves and Vandy boys. 

I’ll miss our walks on the beach, long talks and many laughs. He was a generous and devoted father and friend, always ready to listen and encourage, offering a comforting abrazo or a celebratory toast. Three cheers for a life well lived. —Gini Pupo-Walker

John ‘Cowboy’ Brazelton III

Friend, servant, community member

Despite his diminutive frame, John Brazelton cut a swashbuckling figure — particularly when the wind caught the dramatic black duster he wore when he stood for hours in the cold outside the Campus for Human Development building during Room In The Inn’s Winter Shelter program. There he greeted vans as they arrived, helped guests board for their destination and carried out heavy stacks of blankets and sheets. Under the hat that earned him the nickname “Cowboy,” his chiseled face was weathered by the years he spent on the street, but his light-blue eyes sparkled and shone, clear and free from the addictions that once imprisoned him. His smile was sweet, his voice deep and gentle, and his love for his neighbors in the campus apartments was boundless, as it also was for the staff, volunteers and youth group from Brentwood United Methodist Church.

After successfully completing a 30-day outpatient sobriety program, Brazelton came to RITI through the two-year Veterans Program in 2008. In 2010, alongside city officials and major donors, he helped cut the ribbon for the building where he would live in the Apartment Community — eager to open the door for those seeking room in the inn. —Kay West

Jackson Whitsett

Dancer, friend, remarkable light

“A person like Jackson never leaves your heart once they dance into it,” says Nashville poet and DJ Maggie Wells of her friend Jackson Whitsett, who died in January at age 27.

Jackson lived in many different locales during his short life — New Jersey, Virginia, Atlanta. But the dancer and choreographer spent much of his 20s in Nashville, where he held a number of jobs and, more notably, won over countless friends with his outsized personality and remarkable abilities as a dancer. Jackson was, in a word, flirtatious — the sort of person who never met a stranger, and won over any room he was in with his humor, his charm, his fabulous fashion sense, his powerfully energetic dancing, his boisterous laugh and his earnest love and concern for others. 

At a memorial held at Rosemary & Beauty Queen not long after Jackson’s death, family members read a remembrance from a lifelong friend, journalist Celeste Lavin. “Jackson had a light about him,” read Lavin’s words in part. “He brought people into the light with him.” Indeed, that evening’s large and diverse gathering — which included a spirited, celebratory second-line band — showed just what a lasting impact Jackson had on Nashville. Members of Nashville’s DJ scene, members of the local LGBTQ community, dancers, singers, service industry workers, everyday folks: Jackson brought them all into his light.

“I called him The Remedy,” remembers Maggie Wells. “Because no matter what was wrong with me, the day, the party, the world, the vibe — it was cured when he arrived.” —D. Patrick Rodgers

Ralph Pattillo Cadenhead

Interior designer, friend, Southern gentleman 

For close to 30 years, I had the privilege of calling Ralph Pattillo Cadenhead my dear friend. An Alabama native, Ralph was the epitome of a Southern gentleman — kind, refined and unforgettable. 

Ralph’s soulful artistry in interior design adorned countless homes across Nashville and beyond. Through his creative process, he touched the lives of those dwelling within each residence. Ralph’s professional mastery was matched by his benevolent heart. The juxtaposition of high-end design and deep empathy for creatures of all kinds was Ralph’s hallmark. He poured himself into service projects, from co-chairing the Artrageous fundraiser for nonprofit Nashville CARES to decorating designer showhouse rooms for the Junior League of Nashville. Ralph’s whole life was anchored by compassion and creativity. 

As we remember Ralph, we reflect on a life marked by an unwavering commitment to enhancing the world through stunning design and simple kindness. Ralph’s name will forever be synonymous with the grace and goodness he brought to every space — and every heart — he encountered. His beautiful, practical designs and his exuberant, warm heart made Ralph utterly irreplaceable, both in talent and impact. 

A true Southern spirit, Ralph Cadenhead leaves a legacy that is as timeless and treasured as the homes he adorned. —John Dyke 

Leah Marie Stephens

Lab manager, friend, creative force

Leah Marie Stephens (née Sawyer) was born and raised in Montgomery, Ala., and moved to Nashville in 2013 after earning her master’s degree in microscopy at the University of Sydney in Australia. Professionally, she spent almost a decade as lab manager and microscopist at the Lee Lab at Vanderbilt University, where she worked on live cell imaging and developed protocols for growing organoids and induced pluripotent stem cells. Her research on cell signaling produced important insights into human development, with implications for the treatment of human diseases, including cancer. According to her co-workers, she always brought an element of fun into often stressful research situations, and was a fierce advocate for the students she worked with. 

Leah never saw a distinction between science and art — to her, they were one and the same. A creative force, she would often host arts-and-crafts parties and workshops. She made beautiful, hand-crafted terrariums and always encouraged artistic creativity in everyone she knew, especially children. As a world traveler, she made friends easily, and kept them for life. Loud, spontaneous and filled with wonderment, Leah never stopped learning and experiencing new things. She was never one to shy away from speaking her mind — I often joke among our friends that she would argue even when you agreed with her. Her smile and laugh were infectious, and she was always selfless and generous in her love for family and friends. 

I befriended Leah not long after she came to Nashville, and we bonded over our deep love for music. A moment that stands out — and there were so many — was a Built to Spill concert we attended together in 2019. Built to Spill was one of her favorite bands of all time, and she danced in front of the stage and sang along with every word to every song, as if she were the only one spotlit in the crowd. 

That was Leah, bright and beautiful, a gift to anyone lucky enough to know her. —Kelly Bolick

Jane Ann Boram

Pastor, counselor, warrior for social justice

As predictable as the sun rising in the east and dogs howling at the moon, wherever and whenever warriors for social justice gathered, Jane Boram could be found.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University Divinity School, pastor and mental health counselor, Boram volunteered for 30 years for Nashville CARES, serving as a buddy for terminal clients. Retirement allowed her to turn her boundless energy toward other nonprofits and causes she cared deeply about, such as co-chairing Nashville Organized for Action and Hope; co-chairing the Criminal Justice Task Force; advocating for bail reform in General Sessions Court and creating compassionate responses to mentally ill people in crisis through Health Engagement and Liaison Services. In 2022, Boram’s story was among 100 collected for a Nashville Voices project, an initiative of the Nashville Public Library’s Votes for Women permanent exhibit in the downtown library building. —Kay West

Debbie Booker

Principal, educator, community member

The students and faculty of the Academy at Old Cockrill experienced a difficult loss this year when principal Debbie Booker died at age 58. Booker had been with Metro Nashville Public Schools for 18 years, working as a teacher, an assistant principal and a principal at several schools throughout the district.

During a February school board meeting, Director of Schools Adrienne Battle acknowledged the loss by reading a resolution in Booker’s honor while her loved ones were in attendance. Battle shared that Booker was “an extremely dedicated and beloved educator whom we lost much too soon.” Her catchphrase was, “I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” —Kelsey Beyeler

Alice Matthews

Educator, volunteer, philanthropist

Alice Walker Casey Matthews, a descendant of the earliest settlers in Middle Tennessee, was born, raised and lived her entire life in Nashville. She married Robert Matthews Jr. (known as Bobby) and had three children. The Matthews name, via The Matthews Company, has been emblazoned on restoration, development and construction projects for decades as Nashville has evolved from a big-small town to the explosive city it is today.

Alice Matthews was equally involved and influential in balancing preservation and growth of her beloved city’s treasures, and she devoted her life to service as an educator, volunteer and philanthropist. She taught at the Bill Wilkerson Hearing and Speech Center, with a particular focus on remedial reading. Her memberships in Nashville organizations included Centennial Club, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Leadership Nashville, the Junior League of Nashville, the Planning Commission of the City of Belle Meade and historic Travellers Rest. She chaired the Swan Ball and Trees of Christmas for Cheekwood, and the Iroquois Steeplechase for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Her greatest passion was gardening and landscaping. She served as president of the Garden Club of America in New York, educating gardeners around the country about conservation and beautifying their communities. —Kay West

Bill Brown

Poet, teacher, mentor

In the fall of 1983, a few intrepid educators cleaned up a crumbling citadel in downtown Nashville and launched the city’s first academic magnet school. Among them was Bill Brown, a beloved English teacher who’d also become an accomplished poet — in part because, as he told Chapter 16 in 2010, “it felt dishonest not to write with my students.”

For the next 19 years, Brown led Hume-Fogg’s groundbreaking writing program, transforming teenagers into virtuoso poets and essayists and creating a community of writers. I landed in his freshman English class in year two. His terrifying assignments included 25-page journals for Brave New World and 1984. Somehow, whatever he asked, we did; and filling those blank pages conditioned us to blow past blocks and build stamina. To inspire us, he led epic excursions — filled with music and the occasional skunk — to Radnor Lake, Twin Arches and Roan Mountain, encouraging us to translate what we observed and felt in nature into poetry.

His greatest gift to us was believing we had something worthwhile to say. “He deeply listened to my poems with his whole body: closing his eyes and pulling his ears forward,” says Tiana Clark, acclaimed poet and professor, who attended Hume-Fogg from 2000 to 2002.

After retiring in 2003, Brown, always prolific, wrote, performed, lectured and led workshops for the rest of his life. His poems often drew on his West Tennessee roots. In one from his 2018 collection, The Cairns: New and Selected Poems, he imagines his long-gone grandparents sitting on a park bench in heaven, longing for Tennessee:

What they really miss is the smell

of honeysuckle or the way

woodland violets circle star trillium

like a wedding quilt in spring.

—Kim Green

Gertrude Caldwell

Women’s advocate, traveler, matriarch

Her obituary begins, “Gertrude Sharp Caldwell died quietly on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.” But in the decades that preceded her death, the Nashville native lived large. Educated in all the proper places — Robertson Academy, Ward Belmont/Harpeth Hall, Sweet Briar College and Vanderbilt University — Caldwell went on to explore distant corners of the world with her husband Dr. Ben Caldwell.  But it was by her own determined will and ability to see unmet needs and dark holes in the social fabric that she made a profound and enduring impact, particularly for women in Nashville. 

At a time when married mothers of her standing did not work outside the home, Caldwell was tireless in serving organizations and fighting for causes she believed in. One of her first accomplishments was as a founding board member of the Historic Sites Federation of Tennessee in 1968, later known as Historic Nashville, which ultimately prevented the planned destruction of Ryman Auditorium and Union Station, among others.

In 1970, she joined the board of the YWCA, devoting herself to addressing the issue of domestic violence long before it was widely acknowledged as pervasive and deadly. She helped the YWCA open Nashville’s first domestic violence shelter and was instrumental in creating programming for newly divorced women and at-risk girls. In recognition of her leadership, the YWCA Nashville established the Gertrude Caldwell Legacy Society, ensuring her vision will continue. —Kay West

Eugenia Douglass McFarland Moore

Community leader, activist

Born Dec. 14, 1931, Eugenia Douglass Moore (née McFarland) studied at Rhodes College and the Juilliard School, where she was a bel canto opera singer, before receiving a graduate degree at Vanderbilt University.

She was a passionate civil rights activist and reformer for social justice and human rights. She is survived by her children, Benjamin Porteous Moore IV, Stuart McFarland Moore and Faith Douglass Moore, as well as nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. —Laura Hutson Hunter

Lacy Paige Magee

Friend, daughter, athlete, student, Southern girl

Lacy Magee came into every situation smile first, eyes wide, mind curious and heart open. Born in Nashville in 1989, she made her social debut at Percy Priest Elementary School, and began building a circle of friends who embraced and delighted in her presence wherever she landed. Blessed with beauty and grace, tall and lithe, Lacy ran like the wind and soared to impossible heights, setting track-and-field records competing for Harpeth Hall and being named an all-state volleyball player at Hillsboro High School.

Lacy sparkled at every endeavor that caught her interest — art, athletics, fashion, music, theater, hospitality and event planning. Radiating positivity, after college in Seattle she was ultimately drawn to sunny California and plunged fearlessly into its endless possibilities.

The news of her sudden death on a visit home to Nashville prompted dozens of anguished posts on social media, accompanied by photographs bursting with her joie de vivre. Remembered by family and friends as kind and compassionate, brave and bold, fierce and free-spirited, lovely, loving and loved, Lacy frequently described herself with her own guileless tagline: just a Southern girl living in a Hollywood world. —Kay West

Phyllis Phillips

Educator, administrator, ‘world-class person’

Phyllis Phillips spent most of her life working in the Metro Nashville Public Schools system. Having completed her primary and secondary education in MNPS schools and receiving higher education at local universities, Phillips returned to the district, where she spent her career.

Phillips started as a teacher and later became a reading specialist before transitioning to an administrative role. When she died, she was serving as MNPS’ director of pre-K programming. Director of Schools Adrienne Battle honored Phillips during a November board meeting. “Phillips was a top-notch employee, and more importantly, a world-class person,” said Battle. “She was a true leader who only wanted the best for our youngest students and their families.” —Kelsey Beyeler

Lillias Viehmann

Socialite, performer, volunteer, woman of the world

When Betty Lillias Round Viehmann glided into a room, people tended to stand up straighter, resisting an uncanny urge to bow or curtsy. Her regal posture and queenly presence came naturally to the refined beauty. She was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, and her blue-blood pedigree went back generations, with titles both royal and sport, including Wimbledon champion. Educated in England and France, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and was presented at the Lord Mayor’s Ball in England. 

She met her future husband, Fred Viehmann, when her family hosted the young soldier for the holidays as World War II was ending. They married in 1947, lived in England for some time, then relocated to Germany before coming to the United States. A true woman of the world, she was fluent in several languages and a citizen of three different countries — each of her three children was born under a different flag.

Professionally trained as a performer, Lillias brought her talents to the stages of the Nashville Children’s Theatre and Circle Theater, among others, and her volunteer spirit to the Nashville Symphony, Cheekwood and elsewhere.

At her service, a framed photograph of Lillias — serenely confident and supremely elegant — was captioned by her family: “Our Forever English Queen.” —Kay West

Suzanne Charlotte Lafond

Entrepreneur, DJ, grandmother, author, trailblazer

Suzanne Charlotte Lafond died in February at age 91, a “trailblazer in a family of trailblazers” according to her family’s obituary. Natives of Montreal, she and her brother Pierre were the first in the family to learn English and immigrate to the United States. 

Lafond met Nashvillian Kermit C. Stengel Jr. in her hometown. They married in 1954 and raised three sons together — Mark, Christian and Eric. Her three sons had only granddaughters, seven of them in total. She was the founder of Nashville’s Dress for Success chapter and served as director from 1998 to 2008. She also founded the athleisure line Tennis Fashions by Suzanne locally in 1969. 

You might notice a big gap in that résumé. After her divorce from Stengel in 1981, Lafond embarked on a second life of sorts. She worked as a radio DJ in Santa Barbara, Calif., and a production assistant for Julia Child as part of the TV series Dinner at Julia’s. She also served as a French-language interpreter and organizing committee member for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and got involved as a voice, film and video actor in radio and television commercials, documentaries and corporate productions. In 1997, Suzanne was selected “The World’s Greatest Granny” by the Washington State Granny Smith Apple Growers Association. 

She was called “Mamie” or “Grand-Mere” by her grandchildren, and in 2013, Lafond published a 364-page memoir called Peach Cobbler Stories. In her book, she referenced her Catholic faith and the importance of the virtue of charity — toward God, oneself and one’s neighbor. “It is a lifelong practice we must never give up,” she wrote. —Hannah Herner

Melvin Scates

Care coordinator, community member, helper

Melvin Scates had one of those faces in which, no matter his age, you could always see the little boy. That face — which carried hurt and hope, disappointment and delight, loss and love — was the face that greeted first-timers to the Guest House, Room In The Inn’s alternative to jail for people picked up by the police for public intoxication, and a respite for the medically fragile.

Scates understood their fear and anger because he had been there himself. He spent decades on the streets when he wasn’t in jail and was a frequent and often combative visitor to the original Room In The Inn property. But for many years, he refused founder Charlie Strobel’s invitation to shelter. One day — for reasons known only to Melvin — he committed to turning his life around. He got sober, earned his GED, completed his deacon training, was ordained in his church, got married and reconciled with his son. He also came to work at Room In The Inn, serving for 19 years as care coordinator at the Guest House. Melvin lived deeply one of Strobel’s adages about a mission of RITI: “We walk one another through pain.”  

When Melvin died in March, staff shared advice he often gave those who came to the Guest House: “When somebody puts their hand out to help, grab it.” —Kay West

Dec. 9 Tornado Victims

Three residents of a mobile home community in Madison

The destructive storms that touched down in Tennessee in December left wreckage from Clarksville to Hendersonville — and left three dead in a Madison mobile home community on Nesbitt Drive. The victims were Joseph Dalton (37), Floridema Gabriel Perez (31) and Perez’s son Anthony Elmer Mendez (2).

GoFundMe pages are set up for the surviving members of the Dalton and Mendez families. The Mendez family plans to repatriate Floridema and Anthony to their home country of Guatemala for funeral arrangements. —Alejandro Ramirez

Members of the Unhoused Community

By Hannah Herner

It took around eight minutes to read all of the names of people who died in 2023 during the city’s annual homeless memorial. Each one of the 182 people died having experienced homelessness in Nashville at one point in their lives. The number is always high — it was 191 in 2021 and 176 in 2022. 

Year after year, when it comes to homeless deaths, the same themes emerge. People die younger when they’ve been homeless. This year, the average age was 50.7, and the median age was 52. The youngest was 19, and the oldest was 76. They’re ill and don’t have adequate access to health care, or the transportation to get to care, or the ability to take care of their bodies in general. They don’t usually have a safe place to heal. Folks often die shortly after moving into permanent housing. 

They were people you knowingly or unknowingly passed by at least once. There’s some mystery in the stories of the people lost, but solutions to lengthen their lives are pretty straightforward — affordable housing, expanded TennCare and enough income to survive.

These are the names of people who died this year having experienced homelessness in Nashville:

Kristen Abrams, Lawrence Adams, Christopher Alford, Landon Alley, Marilyn Avery, Phillip Bailey, Kristine Barbee, Courtney Barnes, Harold Bass, Jamie Biggs, Anthony Blake, Antonio Booker, William Booker Jr., Jeannine Botts, John Brazelton, Richard Broome, Walter Brown, William Alfonso Brown, Johnny Ray Bunch, Jeffery Allen Capps, Aaron Carpenter, Gregory Carter, Misty Caudill, Roy Cherry, Tonya Church, Marquis D. Churchwell, Andre “Old School” Clow, Bruce Coco, Robert Coffee, Otha Collins, David Cook, Jeremy Culbertson, James Depung, Conni Dickerson, Roger Dile, Mark Dodd, Ricky Donnell, Michael Duke II, Jasmine Dukes, Thomas Edward, Anthony Thomas Edwards, Tony England, James Espie, Margaret Evans, Robert “Wayne” Fathera, Chris Few, Saundra Fisk, Edward Charles, Foley Marlesse, Frank Leon Freeman, Denyce “Gypsy” Gagnon, Joey Gann, Justin Goodrich, Ronald Graves, Christopher Lee Grubb, Sifeldin Hamad, Kevin Hamilton, David Hammond, Brian “Treetop” Hancock, Rayford Alton Harvey, Letha Hayes, Daniel Hicks, Charles Hodge, Lawrence Holly, Latarsha Howard, Bronson Hunter, Pamela Hurd, Timothy Wayne, Hutcherson Jeffery, Walker Irons, Christopher Robert James, Fred Jarvis, Whitney Jeffries, Dedja Dannielle Jenkins, Bobby Jennings, Antonio Jordan, Joy Kabelu, Julia Kaylor, Johnny Keith, David A. Kelley, Kenneth Kelly, Charlie Keys, Francise Kimbrough, Michael Allen Kinslow, Garry Klucas, Tangela Knox, David C. Kramnic, Loren Lange, Tomekia LaQuan Clark, Charles Eddie Lawson, Ricky Lewis, Gary M. Lucus, Ellen Luna, William Luster, Robert “Cowboy” Lynch, Maurice “Wild Bill” Marce, Kenneth Mathis, Sarah McAllister, Mark McCormick, Brian Lee McInnis Wilson, James McQuiston, Juan Mena, Danny T. Merrell, Jody Minor (aka Joe D. Vernon), Thomas Mitchell, Kenneth Moore, Thomas Moore III, John Moran, Richard Moss, Jennifer Motil, Donald Murphy, Marece Nebil, Donnell Norford, Marvin Nunes-Nunes, Andrew Matthew Nuzzo, Mary “Strawberry” Oldham, Jacob Leroy Olivarez, Lonnie Orr, Jeffrey Wayne Padgett, Andre Palenzuela, Donna Pardue, John Wilson (Country) Patterson, Ronald Eugene Peach, Christopher Perrin, Bronson Pharr, James H Pinkard, Carol “June” Potts, Jeffery Ranstad, Julia Ray, Adam Reynolds, Kathleen Reynolds, Tina Rusak, Ray Sanders, Leonard Sanford, Barry Sargel, Tamara Savickas, Christopher Bryan Scott, Juan Sis, Blackie James “Jim” Skinner, Torrance Sledge, Christopher Smalley, Walter Smith, Michael T. Smith, Tara Smith, Justin Lee Smith, Rodney Terdelle Speed, Ponce DeLeon Spight, Richard Starnes, Donald Lee Stennis, Benjamin (Joker) Sterling, Tommy Stevens, Anthony Sweatt, Billy G. Tabb, Johnnie Taylor, Michelle Tayse, Ronald E. Thomas, Ruth Thomas, Tommy L. Thompson, Kyle Thornton, Sammy Threet, William Thrift, Michael “Patrick” Timbes, Michael Kevin Tinch, William Todd, Kapriel Trauernicht, Tyler Tripp, Martha Turner, Stephanie Vaughn, Virginia Wair, Jonathan Brent Walden, Megal Wallace, Kenneth Ward, Jerry Washington, Mark Weatherford, Richard “RC” Weller, Danny White, Daryl Whitfield Sr., Anthony Wilson, Adam Woods, Carmeka R. Worthington, Herod Wright, Sedrick Yarbrough, Mark York.

2023 Homicide Victims

By Alejandro Ramirez

The following is a list of Nashville homicide victims in 2023 as of Dec. 19. The list includes Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig, a music business major remembered for her love of music, and Demon Floyd, an East Nashville Magnet High School basketball player who earned a scholarship to Tennessee Tech. The list does not include victims of the Covenant shooting, who are remembered in the following entry.

Daniel Bonner, 22; Irene Bond, 45; Demarcus Mallory, 42; Eric Baker, 19; Lubunga Lumenge, 30; Rodney Speed, 19; Alexander Delgado, 16; Taurus Oglesby, 18; Timothy Fetter, 48; Olabode Enitan, 30; Fredrick Sparks, 32; Michael Adams, 19; Cordarion Hall, 14; Xavier Taylor, 22; Jamal Moore, 30; Irene Torres, 24; Jonathan Seda, 23; Chancellor Eddins, 35; Tabitha Oglesby, 38; Linda Williams, 61; Keviana Perry, 28; Terrese Patterson, 47; Thomas Mitchell, 51; Eric Contreras, 19; Verleria Bridges, 37; Dejuan Gadsden, 20; Mitchell Steele Jr., 29; Juan Marquez, 35;  Marques Douglas, 34; Keylando Powers, 20; David Bickham, 27; Tarrell Grant, 26; Dequan Howse, 33; Gerges Youssef, 46; Sedrick Yarbrough, 43; Deshawn Talley, 21; Letha Hayes, 53; Rodrigo Ernesto Aguilar, 60; Taliyah Frazier, 4; Demon Floyd Jr., 18; Demetrius Johnson, 16; Majok Chol, 24; Eric Whigham, 26; Fredy Adelso Batz Che, 29; Angel Rodrigez Troche, 23; Etabo Malanda, 16; Christopher Harris, 27; Thomas Roberts, 68; Genesis Garcia, 21; Latoria Mitchell, 27; Williams Langston Jr., 57; Luis Arita-Vasquez, 18; Yoel Lopez, 21; Marquis Churchwell, 32; Eric Reed, 29; Jose Rivera-Garcia, 35; Diego Morente-Chiroy, 16;  Israel Teniente, 17; Paul Reed, 17; Lawrence Edwards, 54; Diandre Starks, 24; Keonta Brown, 20; Corey Bryant, 40; Brooke Howard, 41; Hykame Knowles, 27; Danielle Yarlett, 27; Kyle Martin Jr., 22; Kelvin Stowers Jr., 26; Elmer Nahum Miranda-Martinez, 37; Brandon Rivas-Noriega, 26; Alejandro Chama-Tum, 48; Jesus Daniel Martinez Garcia, 17; Shalena McCall, 21; Charles Smith, 66; Terran Frazier, 44; Patrick Panella, 42; Keiahtee Terrell, 29; Patrick Clark, 45; Lorenzo Perry, 55; Behrouz Rezai Dashti, 46; Joshua Westmoreland, 40; Jillian Ludwig, 18; Bruce Woodland, 60; Marisa Henegar-Castillo, 45; Joshua White, 34; Josue Riscart Chirino, 36; Anthoney Barksdale, 19; Stephen Rouse III, 26; Bryan Thompson, 34; Jesus Manuel Sigala, 57; Dominique Bonds, 34.

Covenant School Shooting Victims

Three students and three staff at the Green Hills school

Katherine Koonce (60) was the head of the Covenant School and is believed to have directly confronted the shooter there in March. She had dedicated her career to teaching at area private Christian schools. “Katherine was devoted to her family, her friends, and especially the children she cared for,” wrote Koonce’s family in a statement. “She gave her life to protect the students she loved. We are devastated by our loss but depending on our God for comfort and healing. It is our privilege to honor Katherine’s legacy and to celebrate her remarkable spirit. We are grateful for the prayers of many on our behalf, and we pray for the families of the six others who died.”

Hallie Scruggs (9) was the daughter of the lead pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church and one of four children, the only girl. “We are heartbroken,” Chad Scruggs told ABC News in a statement. “Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again.”

Evelyn Dieckhaus (9) was a classmate of Hallie’s who loved to play with dolls and hoped to be an occupational therapist like her mother when she grew up. “Our hearts are completely broken,” the Dieckhaus family told ABC News. “We cannot believe this has happened. Evelyn was a shining light in this world.”

William Kinney (9) was celebrated by his baseball teammates at Crieve Hall Baseball Park. 

Mike Hill (61) was a custodian at the school for more than a decade. His family released a statement saying he loved to cook and spend time with family. He had seven children and 14 grandchildren. “We pray for the Covenant School and are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years,” the statement reads.

Cynthia Peak (61) was a substitute teacher at the school. According to Gov. Bill Lee, the Louisiana native and mother of three was also a close friend of Tennessee first lady Maria Lee. 

“Cindy was a pillar of the community, and a teacher beloved by all her students,” her family told ABC News. “Her favorite roles in life were being a mom to her three children, a wife to her husband, and an educator to students.” —Hannah Herner

In Memoriam 2023

Commemorating some of the irreplaceable Nashville figures we lost in 2023