Nashville, TN
Age 88, husband, father, grandfather, WWII Veteran, avid golfer, and loyal friend, died peacefully at Woodcrest Health Center on Veterans Day November 11, 2013.
He was born in Bostic, North Carolina on February 23, 1925 to Cecil Dempsey and Steve Mabry Tolbert who predeceased him including two sisters, Nancy Tolbert Thomas and Betty Ross Tolbert and his wife of 54 years, Varina Scudder Tolbert. Hershel grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina and moved to Erwin, Tennessee where he attended and played for the All-State Unicoi High School football team graduating in 1942. Enlisting in the Navy in December 1942, he was trained as a Machinist Mate and Gunner on the newly commissioned ship U.S.S. Gunston Hall (LSD-5). This amphibian was referred to as "The Mystery Ship" and could submerge twenty feet under water. After nine invasions including the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa he returned home in 1945. Following his father's footsteps Hershel worked for the C&C (L&N) Railroad until 1948 and attended East Tennessee State University where he once again tackled the football field. Upon graduation he found his way to Nashville working at the original Maxwell House Hotel while receiving his Masters in Business from Peabody College. In 1952 he began a 38 year professional career and lifelong friendship with the Boy Scouts of America working and raising a family in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and finally settling back in Nashville in 1976. Among many things Hershel will be remembered as a man of devotion to his church, family and friends. He devoted himself to his family of "naval" friends attending many of the U.S.S. Gunston Hall Reunions and participating in the Music City Honor Flight to Washington D.C. in May 2011. He surrounded himself with golf and gin rummy friends at Richland Country Club where he was a zealous team player and made many lifelong friends. Leading up to 1998 he documented nine hole-in-ones and apparently even shot his age twice when he was 82. He was honored in the Commemorative Golf Tournament in May, 2008. His family of "scouting" friends is evident by his love and devotion to the Middle Tennessee Council. He touched the lives of over 400,000 scouts during his career. With a respect in their field, the familiar faces of Ken Connelly, Joe Long, and Hugh Travis have all instilled a bond of friendship in scouting. Hershel found great refuge in First Presbyterian Church and the community it gave him each week. The Sunday morning coffee club was a blessing to him and reconnecting his South Carolina friendships with Todd Jones meant the world to him. But his greatest devotion and love was for his two children and three grandchildren where he daily sang their praises to friends and even a stranger.
Hershel was surrounded by and survived by his son, Philip Mabry Tolbert, and his daughter and son-in-law, Lake and John Wright Eakin, and three grandsons, John Wright Eakin III, William Tolbert Eakin and Robert Lake Eakin.
The family wishes to thank all the loving caregivers at Belmont Village and Woodcrest.
Visitation will be Friday, November 15th from 12 Noon until 2:30 at First Presbyterian Church, Cheek House with a Memorial service at 2:30 in the chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 4815 Franklin Road, Nashville, TN 37220; Boy Scouts of America, 3414 Hillsboro Pike, P.O. Box 150409, Nashville, TN 37215 or the charity of your choice.
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