Dr. Harold Lerow Weatherby Jr.

Montgomery, AL – Harold Lerow Weatherby, Jr. fell asleep in the Lord on May 1, 2023, aged 89, in the comfort of his home. Dr. Weatherby died in the house he was raised in by his loving parents, Harold Lerow Weatherby and Lurline Pierson Weatherby. Dr. Weatherby was born on April 6, 1934. He leaves cousins Peggy Pierson Alford, Blanche Logan, and Clare Chambers Simon.

Dr. Weatherby enjoyed an illustrious career as an English professor at Vanderbilt University prior to retiring to his hometown of Montgomery and his beach cottage at Panama City Beach, FL. Dr. Weatherby enjoyed all his life the love and friendship of great friends whom he befriended in Nashville, Montgomery and Panama City Beach, in addition to the myriad of students he taught, many of whom would go on to become some of his best and lifelong friends. He was the Godfather to more than a dozen and thus has an expansive spiritual family tree, whose branches will continue to bear fruit for decades and longer.

It was his great joy and comfort to sit on his Alabama front porch among the breezes and the front porch in the Florida sun alone and with his friends. He was a champion swimmer and even into his last decade won races in Florida. He was a stickler for tradition. Daily, in summer, he would swim for miles along the Florida shoreline. Nightly, his ritual included gin and tonic time.

He was educated at Vanderbilt for his BA in 1956, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and received his Master’s degree from Yale in 1957. He served his commission for two years in the U.S. Army in Germany. Later, he got his doctorate at Yale, in ’62 before returning to Vanderbilt to teach English from 1962 until 2006. His parents had both been educators so it was his calling to continue that tradition. He was author to many papers, publications and three books, Cardinal Newman in His Age; His Place in English Theology and Literature (1973); The Keen Delight; the Christian Poet in the Modern World (1975); and Mirrors of Celestial Grace: Patristic Theology in Spenser’s Allegory (1994).

Dr. Weatherby was the co-founder of the Society for the Preservation of the Book of Common Prayer. In 1975, Dr. Weatherby appeared on William F. Buckley’s nationally broadcast “Firing Line” to debate proposed changes to the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer, which was a great highlight to him. More recently in 2006, Dr. Weatherby had the honor of presenting a lecture on Edmund Spenser at Pembroke College – University of Cambridge, which was Edmund Spenser’s alma mater.

He was a reader at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Montgomery, AL, after being a member of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Nashville, TN for decades. He will be missed by his church families and all his various friends who cherished knowing such an wonderful and honorable gentleman.

He was a member of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Club whose members will be his honorary pallbearers.

Donations may be made to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 1721 Mt. Meigs Road, Montgomery, AL 36107 or to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 4905 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220.

Visitation will be at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Thursday, May 4, 2023 from 5-7 p.m. with a Trisagion Service at 6:30 p.m. The funeral service is Friday, May 5, 2023 at 11 a.m. at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 1721 Mt. Meigs Road, Montgomery, AL 36107.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Leak-MC.com for the Weatherby family.