Edward (Eddie) Rutland, age 83, passed away peacefully on Thursday, March 22, 2018, at Baptist Hospice in Collierville after a short battle with lung cancer. He was born December 6, 1934, in Memphis to Thelma Louise and Charles W. Rutland. He was the youngest of two brothers and three sisters, all of whom predeceased him. Eddie attended Treadwell High School. After serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, he met Sarah Ingle while she was working at the soda fountain of the Harrell Drug Store on the Collierville Square. He married her in 1958. Eddie moved his growing family from Memphis to Collierville in 1975. He worked in pest control and eventually founded and ran his own business, Rutland Pest Control, for over 20 years. Eddie served hundreds of homes and businesses in Germantown and Collierville. His quick wit, easy manner, and complete honesty turned many of his clients into lifelong friends. He retired at age 65. Eddie is the classic American success story: a man born of modest means who loved God, served his country, worked hard to achieve success and started his own profitable business, stayed married to one woman for 60 years, raised and provided for four children, and who left the world in a better place than he found it. He is survived by his wife, Sarah; four children, Debbie, Clark, Gina, and Cathy, seven grandchildren, Jonathan, Leah, Casey, Mary, Megan, Shelby, and Madison, and three great grandchildren, Ava, Hadley, and Mason. Family, friends, and others whose lives Eddie touched are invited to the COLLIERVILLE FUNERAL HOME, 534 W Poplar Ave, Collierville, TN 38017, at 12 pm for visitation and 2 pm for the funeral, on Monday, March 26, 2018.
