Charles Horace Warfield Sr.

WARFIELD, SR., Charles Horace. Age 95 of Nashville, passed away on February 19, 2020, with family and friends surrounding him. Charlie was born in Clarksville, TN on October 18, 1924, and moved with his family to Nashville when he was a junior in high school. He graduated from West End High School and earned his B.A. and J.D. (‘49) at Vanderbilt University. While an undergraduate, he left school and entered the V-12 Navy College Training Program at The University of South and was commissioned as an officer. During WWII, he served in the Pacific theater as the Assistant Gunnery Officer on the U.S.S. Yokes, where he fought in the Okinawa Campaign. After the war, he returned to Nashville to finish his undergraduate studies and obtain his law degree. In law school, he and several other classmates founded the Vanderbilt Law Review. On July 22, 1950, he married Martha Hardcastle, and they raised their three boys (Charlie, Miles, and Bill). On January 1, 1972, with his friend and long time law partner, Frank Farris, he started the firm that would become Farris, Warfield, & Kanaday, PLC, where he served as managing partner and worked with many fine and talented lawyers and colleagues, including his long-time assistants, Mary Cooper and Patti Snow. In 2001, FWK combined with Stites & Harbison, PLLC out of Louisville, KY. Charlie’s dedication to his family and profession was equally matched by his dedication to his community. His civic activities included being the President of the Nashville Junior Chamber of Commerce; President of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce; longtime Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the Legal Aid Society of Middle TN and the Cumberlands; Chairman of the Nashville Chapter of the American Red Cross; Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Red Cross; President of the Nashville Better Business Bureau; Board Member of Third Nat’l. Bank/SunTrust in Nashville; Board Member and Vice Chairman of the Fisk University Board of Trustees; President of the Nashville Bar Association; Board Member and Chairman of the Battle Ground Academy Board of Trustees; Founding Member and Board Member of the TN Supreme Court Historical Society; Fellow of the TN Bar Foundation; Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation; Chairman of the Administrative Board at Belmont United Methodist Church; and member of the second Metropolitan Charter Commission that formed the Metro government of Nashville. Through his children, Charlie also coached various sports teams and was involved in the Boy Scouts. His other passions were the outdoors, reading, and teaching Sunday school. Charlie had four priorities in his life: his family, his church, his law practice, and his community. He dedicated himself to each one these facets setting the example of how we can all better the lives of others and our communities. He was humble, quick-witted, caring, scholarly, and defined a gentleman. He filled the “unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,” and lived into his mantra, “to thine own self be true.” He will be greatly missed, but we are left with the love that he gave and the example that he set. He is preceded in death by his mother, Ruth Edmondson Moore; father, Charles Percy Warfield, Jr.; step father, Lewis Miles Moore; wife, Martha Hardcastle Warfield; and son, Walter Miles Warfield, Sr. (Sharon). He is survived by his two sons, Charles Horace, Jr. (Betty) and William Montgomery (Janet); his daughter-in-law, Sharon McClellan Warfield (Miles); his grandchildren, Walter Miles, Jr. (Susannah), Elizabeth Pettit (Matthew), James Patrick (Catherine), Charles Horace, III (Jessica), Andrew Thomas (Memma), and Carly Ezell Warfield; and his seven great grandchildren. A service of celebration of Warfield’s life will take place at 11:00 a.m., on Saturday, February 22, at Belmont United Methodist Church. Visitation with the family will take place on Friday, February 21, between 5-7:00 p.m., and on Saturday, February 22, at 10:00 a.m., at Belmont United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Charlie can be made to the Charles Warfield Fellowship at the Tennessee Justice Center or Belmont United Methodist Church. Active Pallbearers: Ashley Wiltshire, Julian Bibb, Jim Martin, Stuart Campbell, Brad McLean, and Charlie’s grandchildren. Honorary Pallbearers: the lawyers and staff that were part of Farris, Warfield & Kanaday, PLC, J. Clark Akers, III, Connie Clark, Mary Cooper, Steve Ramp, Connie King, Don Birdwell, Roger Halliday, Elwyn Patch, and the members of the Interfaith Group.