John Edward Sommerset Froggatt, 81, of Elizabethton, passed away Tuesday, December 8, 2015, at Pine Ridge Care & Rehabilitation Center.
A native of Saskatchewan, he was a son of the late James R. and Charlotte Hearne Froggatt and spent most of his childhood in mid-western Canada.
After high school, he applied and was accepted at Magill University, Montreal, Canada. He graduated being the first male nurse from the university. He went on to get a degree in physical nursing, his master’s and a double doctorate in Health Education and Sociology.
He was the first Caucasian teacher at Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Ala., and later taught at the University of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University.
John also loved the church. He started “Food for the Multitude” as an outreach program. This became an inter-denominational program and has been feeding those less fortunate for over 30 years.
John leaves behind his Canadian family: a beloved sister, Joann Carter; two brothers, Jim and Duff; many nieces and nephews; his adopted Tennessean families: The Bucks, Benny and Betty, Jane Smith, Jane Robinson, Rita Schuettler, The Nidiffers, The Stenstreams and many others; and two dogs, Chester and Siberia.
A special thanks to all his caregivers at Pine Ridge and to Chaplain Doug Hinshaw.
A memorial service to celebrate John’s life will be held Sunday, December 13, at 3 p.m. at Memorial Funeral Chapel. Anyone desiring to make a donation in his memory may make it to Food for the Multitudes, c/o Ben Buck, 2726 Bob Little Road, Elizabethton, TN 37643. It was John’s request that his body be given to the James H. Quillen College of Medicine.
Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the family.