James D. Abshire, 80, immediate former chairman of the Greeneville Water Commission, died Monday at Select Specialty Hospital in Bristol after an illness of several weeks.
Mr. Abshire was appointed to the commission in 1990 by the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen to fill an unexpired term.
He was chosen as chairman by the other commissioners in 1994 after being elected to the commission that year. He continued to serve as chairman during the balance of his tenure on the commission.
He did not run for re-election in 2001.
Mr. Abshire was for decades active in church and civic affairs in numerous capacities, in addition to his prominent role in the business life of the community as a leading certified public accountant.
A member of Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he had served as a deacon, an elder, and a trustee. He also had served as church treasurer for 41 years, and as the teacher of the Married Sunday School Class.
At the regional level, Mr. Abshire had served as a member of the denominational board of stewardship and as treasurer of the East Tennessee Presbytery, and had generated financial support for Bethel College and Memphis Theological Seminary.
Mr. Abshire was a member of the Greeneville Exchange Club, an avid golfer, and a member and longtime supporter of the YMCA, of which he had been a leader in its early years.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Brumley Breakfast Club.
Born Jan. 27, 1923, he was a son of the late Winifred Robbins and James Dewey Abshire.
He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army
Air Corps.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he was a founding partner in the Joe E. Henry & Co. accounting firm in Knoxville, along with Joe E. Henry and Herbert Ward.
Mr. Abshire moved to Greeneville in 1957 to establish the Greeneville branch of Joe E. Henry & Co., which was located in the former First National Bank Building. The office moved to a Church Street location in the late 1960s.
In 1978, Joe E. Henry & Co. merged with the national firm of Main LaFrantz, and continued through a series of national mergers and then two successive international mergers.
At the point when the company became KMG/Peat Marwick, the office was a member firm of the largest accounting firm in the world.
Mr. Abshire retired in 1987 but continued to maintain an office and do some work in the church street location.
In the late 1980s he set up an office in the Round Table Complex, serving as trustee and personal financial advisor for several long-term clients.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years: Bobbie L. Abshire; four children and their spouses: Martha and John Simmons of Rockwell, N.C., Laura Sykora of Wake Forest, N.C., Jim and Jean Abshire of Ellicott City, Md., and John Abshire of Walhalla, S.C.; four grandchildren: Eamon Gilmartin, Brian Sykora, Eric Sykora, and Jimmy Abshire; and a special friend of the family: Sharon Smith of Walhalla.
The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday and from 1-2 p.m. Thursday at Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The funeral service will follow visitation at 2:30 Thursday at the church. The Rev. Jamie Lively will officiate.
A private graveside service will be held in GreeneLawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Honorary pallbearers will be fellow church members, business associates and clients, and his golfing friends.
Mr. Abshire was appointed to the commission in 1990 by the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen to fill an unexpired term.
He was chosen as chairman by the other commissioners in 1994 after being elected to the commission that year. He continued to serve as chairman during the balance of his tenure on the commission.
He did not run for re-election in 2001.
Mr. Abshire was for decades active in church and civic affairs in numerous capacities, in addition to his prominent role in the business life of the community as a leading certified public accountant.
A member of Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he had served as a deacon, an elder, and a trustee. He also had served as church treasurer for 41 years, and as the teacher of the Married Sunday School Class.
At the regional level, Mr. Abshire had served as a member of the denominational board of stewardship and as treasurer of the East Tennessee Presbytery, and had generated financial support for Bethel College and Memphis Theological Seminary.
Mr. Abshire was a member of the Greeneville Exchange Club, an avid golfer, and a member and longtime supporter of the YMCA, of which he had been a leader in its early years.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Brumley Breakfast Club.
Born Jan. 27, 1923, he was a son of the late Winifred Robbins and James Dewey Abshire.
He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army
Air Corps.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he was a founding partner in the Joe E. Henry & Co. accounting firm in Knoxville, along with Joe E. Henry and Herbert Ward.
Mr. Abshire moved to Greeneville in 1957 to establish the Greeneville branch of Joe E. Henry & Co., which was located in the former First National Bank Building. The office moved to a Church Street location in the late 1960s.
In 1978, Joe E. Henry & Co. merged with the national firm of Main LaFrantz, and continued through a series of national mergers and then two successive international mergers.
At the point when the company became KMG/Peat Marwick, the office was a member firm of the largest accounting firm in the world.
Mr. Abshire retired in 1987 but continued to maintain an office and do some work in the church street location.
In the late 1980s he set up an office in the Round Table Complex, serving as trustee and personal financial advisor for several long-term clients.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years: Bobbie L. Abshire; four children and their spouses: Martha and John Simmons of Rockwell, N.C., Laura Sykora of Wake Forest, N.C., Jim and Jean Abshire of Ellicott City, Md., and John Abshire of Walhalla, S.C.; four grandchildren: Eamon Gilmartin, Brian Sykora, Eric Sykora, and Jimmy Abshire; and a special friend of the family: Sharon Smith of Walhalla.
The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday and from 1-2 p.m. Thursday at Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The funeral service will follow visitation at 2:30 Thursday at the church. The Rev. Jamie Lively will officiate.
A private graveside service will be held in GreeneLawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Honorary pallbearers will be fellow church members, business associates and clients, and his golfing friends.
James D. Abshire, 80, immediate former chairman of the Greeneville Water Commission, died Monday at Select Specialty Hospital in Bristol after an illness of several weeks.
Mr. Abshire was appointed to the commission in 1990 by the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen to fill an unexpired term.
He was chosen as chairman by the other commissioners in 1994 after being elected to the commission that year. He continued to serve as chairman during the balance of his tenure on the commission.
He did not run for re-election in 2001.
Mr. Abshire was for decades active in church and civic affairs in numerous capacities, in addition to his prominent role in the business life of the community as a leading certified public accountant.
A member of Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he had served as a deacon, an elder, and a trustee. He also had served as church treasurer for 41 years, and as the teacher of the Married Sunday School Class.
At the regional level, Mr. Abshire had served as a member of the denominational board of stewardship and as treasurer of the East Tennessee Presbytery, and had generated financial support for Bethel College and Memphis Theological Seminary.
Mr. Abshire was a member of the Greeneville Exchange Club, an avid golfer, and a member and longtime supporter of the YMCA, of which he had been a leader in its early years.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Brumley Breakfast Club.
Born Jan. 27, 1923, he was a son of the late Winifred Robbins and James Dewey Abshire.
He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army
Air Corps.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he was a founding partner in the Joe E. Henry & Co. accounting firm in Knoxville, along with Joe E. Henry and Herbert Ward.
Mr. Abshire moved to Greeneville in 1957 to establish the Greeneville branch of Joe E. Henry & Co., which was located in the former First National Bank Building. The office moved to a Church Street location in the late 1960s.
In 1978, Joe E. Henry & Co. merged with the national firm of Main LaFrantz, and continued through a series of national mergers and then two successive international mergers.
At the point when the company became KMG/Peat Marwick, the office was a member firm of the largest accounting firm in the world.
Mr. Abshire retired in 1987 but continued to maintain an office and do some work in the church street location.
In the late 1980s he set up an office in the Round Table Complex, serving as trustee and personal financial advisor for several long-term clients.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years: Bobbie L. Abshire; four children and their spouses: Martha and John Simmons of Rockwell, N.C., Laura Sykora of Wake Forest, N.C., Jim and Jean Abshire of Ellicott City, Md., and John Abshire of Walhalla, S.C.; four grandchildren: Eamon Gilmartin, Brian Sykora, Eric Sykora, and Jimmy Abshire; and a special friend of the family: Sharon Smith of Walhalla.
The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday and from 1-2 p.m. Thursday at Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The funeral service will follow visitation at 2:30 Thursday at the church. The Rev. Jamie Lively will officiate.
A private graveside service will be held in GreeneLawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Honorary pallbearers will be fellow church members, business associates and clients, and his golfing friends.
Mr. Abshire was appointed to the commission in 1990 by the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen to fill an unexpired term.
He was chosen as chairman by the other commissioners in 1994 after being elected to the commission that year. He continued to serve as chairman during the balance of his tenure on the commission.
He did not run for re-election in 2001.
Mr. Abshire was for decades active in church and civic affairs in numerous capacities, in addition to his prominent role in the business life of the community as a leading certified public accountant.
A member of Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he had served as a deacon, an elder, and a trustee. He also had served as church treasurer for 41 years, and as the teacher of the Married Sunday School Class.
At the regional level, Mr. Abshire had served as a member of the denominational board of stewardship and as treasurer of the East Tennessee Presbytery, and had generated financial support for Bethel College and Memphis Theological Seminary.
Mr. Abshire was a member of the Greeneville Exchange Club, an avid golfer, and a member and longtime supporter of the YMCA, of which he had been a leader in its early years.
He was an enthusiastic member of the Brumley Breakfast Club.
Born Jan. 27, 1923, he was a son of the late Winifred Robbins and James Dewey Abshire.
He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army
Air Corps.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he was a founding partner in the Joe E. Henry & Co. accounting firm in Knoxville, along with Joe E. Henry and Herbert Ward.
Mr. Abshire moved to Greeneville in 1957 to establish the Greeneville branch of Joe E. Henry & Co., which was located in the former First National Bank Building. The office moved to a Church Street location in the late 1960s.
In 1978, Joe E. Henry & Co. merged with the national firm of Main LaFrantz, and continued through a series of national mergers and then two successive international mergers.
At the point when the company became KMG/Peat Marwick, the office was a member firm of the largest accounting firm in the world.
Mr. Abshire retired in 1987 but continued to maintain an office and do some work in the church street location.
In the late 1980s he set up an office in the Round Table Complex, serving as trustee and personal financial advisor for several long-term clients.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years: Bobbie L. Abshire; four children and their spouses: Martha and John Simmons of Rockwell, N.C., Laura Sykora of Wake Forest, N.C., Jim and Jean Abshire of Ellicott City, Md., and John Abshire of Walhalla, S.C.; four grandchildren: Eamon Gilmartin, Brian Sykora, Eric Sykora, and Jimmy Abshire; and a special friend of the family: Sharon Smith of Walhalla.
The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday and from 1-2 p.m. Thursday at Greeneville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The funeral service will follow visitation at 2:30 Thursday at the church. The Rev. Jamie Lively will officiate.
A private graveside service will be held in GreeneLawn Memory Gardens.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Honorary pallbearers will be fellow church members, business associates and clients, and his golfing friends.
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