Richard Lee Church, 74, of Elizabethton, passed away Friday, April 13, 2018, at Johnson City Medical Center after an extended illness.
He was a native of Johnson City and a son of the late Arra Belle Hyder Church.
Richard was a 1961 graduate of Lamar High School. He was a retired employee of Baxter Pharmaseal after 27 years of service. His hobby was fishing. Later in life he put his faith and trust in God.
Survivors include three sons, Richard Lee Church Jr. and Billy Church, both of Johnson City, and Bobby Gene Austin, Elizabethton; one daughter, Yvonne Whitehead, Johnson City; four grandchildren, Miranda, Aaron, Tonya and Josh; one great-grandson, Hawthorne Isiah Byington; three brothers, Curtis “Lynn” Church and wife Connie of Florida, Bobby E. Church and wife Pat, Telford, and Sammy Garland, Gray; one sister, Linda Gourley and husband Doug, Jonesborough; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
A service for Richard Lee Church will be conducted at 1 p.m. Monday, April 16, in the Mausoleum of Peace at Happy Valley Memorial Park with Mr. Dewayne Calhoun, minister, officiating. Entombment will follow in the mausoleum. Active pallbearers will be Billy Church, Richard Church Jr., Mickey Mackley, David Garland, Gene Austin, Aaron Gourley and Paul Skinto. The family would like to express a very special “Thank You” to the entire staff of the ER and the 2500 Wing of Johnson City Medical Center. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in memory of Richard to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 950 W. Faris Road, Greenville, SC 29605-4255 or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38101-990. Friends may meet at the Mausoleum of Peace at 12:50 p.m. Monday. Condolences may be sent to the family at our website, www.memorialfcelizabethton.com.
Memorial Funeral Chapel, 212 N. Main Street, Elizabethton, is serving the Church family.