James B. Cavendish

Jim Cavendish, beloved husband and father, died in Parma, Ohio, on Oct. 27. He was 88 years old. The cause of death was Alzheimer’s disease.

James Broaddus Cavendish was born in Victor, W.Va. on Jan. 14, 1936, the first child of M.B. and Stella Cavendish, a pair of school teachers. Cavendish spent his childhood in rural West Virginia with his sister Mary Ellen among a large family of aunts, uncles and cousins. He was a natural athlete, lettering in football and basketball at Meadow Bridge High School, Pax and Nuttall High Schools.

His ability earned him a scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan, but after a year of less than dedicated academics (and the loss of his scholarship), his father gave him an ultimatum: pay for your own schooling or let Uncle Sam do it for you. He joined toward the end of the original G.I. Bill and served 3 years in the Army, mainly in Germany. When asked once what his biggest accomplishment was during that time, he noted that he was the regimental ping pong champion.

Upon returning to West Virginia in 1958, he immediately enrolled at Marshall University in Huntington, majoring in economics and joining Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He loved his time at Marshall and, decades later, served on the search committee for the university’s Yeager Scholars, helping several Middle Tennessee students get admitted to the highly competitive program. At the end of college, he married for two years and had a daughter, Kristin.

Jim moved to Arkansas in 1962 to sell shell homes. Here, he met the great love of his life, Cecilia Ursula Edmonds, known to family and friends by her nickname “Petie,” in Little Rock, Ark. The couple married on Nov. 23, 1962, in Pine Bluff. A year later, they had their first child, Kimberly Lind, and six years later, a second, Stephen Patrick.

Jim found success in the insurance industry, primarily selling group health benefits to businesses. His career moved the family to Memphis, Chattanooga and Nashville, Tenn. as he was promoted to a series of regional management positions at State Mutual, Life of Virginia and Central Life. He, Petie, and their two children settled in Lebanon, Tenn., where they became active members at Epiphany Episcopal and St. John’s Episcopal churches, where he served on the vestry. Meanwhile, his success at work took Jim and Petie around the world, visiting Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Ireland on company trips as well as Hawaii and Alaska in the U.S. Back in Tennessee, Jim could be found most weekends behind a grill and became known among friends for his beef ribs.

He was a multi-sport coach of his children’s youth teams but enjoyed coaching basketball the most. His idea to teach his elementary school team how to execute a full-court press brought both a championship and forced the Lebanon city league to change the rules. He loved watching his daughter Kim compete in the Special Olympics and her loss to a heart condition caused by epilepsy in 1984 devastated both Jim and Petie.

In 1991, Jim took a job as vice president of Shenandoah Life, and he and Petie moved to Roanoke, Va. for five years. Though they loved Virginia — they found a beautiful, historic three-story home on Walnut Street in Old Southwest that became a neighborhood hub for parties and civic planning — corporate culture didn’t agree with Jim, who preferred to be in the field instead of behind a desk. They returned to Middle Tennessee in 1996, settling in Murfreesboro and later Manchester. Jim often joked that they were “moving back to Chattanooga 20 miles at a time.”

In Jim’s later career, he worked for Cowan Benefits and Matt Cowan in what he considered some of his most rewarding years, professionally. He and Petie became active members at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. Their decade in Manchester was among their happiest times, with many close friends in their neighborhood. As much as he could, Jim spent time on the golf course, usually in some form of plaid pants. He loved volunteering for the state high school golf championships, held in Manchester, and he chaired an annual golf fundraiser for MTSU’s Chair of Insurance program.

In 2019, they moved to Parma, Ohio, to be closer to Petie’s sister, Tracy Patterson. In 2021, Jim moved into Mount Alverna Village, a Franciscan facility where he would eventually pass away.

Jim is survived by his wife, Petie, his son Stephen Patrick (Jennifer) of Nashville, Tenn., daughter Kristin Paris of Pacific Grove, Ca., sister Mary Ellen Beiletti of Jacksonville, Fl., and her children Rhett Beiletti and Taffi Deegan (Joe) of Jacksonville, sister-in-law Tracy Patterson (Don) of Parma and their children Jessica Hertter of Memphis, Tenn. and Nathaniel Patterson of Parma.