Individual Details
Van Andrew Cavett Jr.
(3 Jul 1932 - 11 Apr 2010)
Posted at Find-A-Grave.com: Van A. Cavett, 77, died at his Lookout Mountain, Tenn. home on Sunday, April 11, 2010. He is survived by his wife, Caroline; daughter, Anne Cavett and her partner, Leslie Urban, of Davidson N.C.; and son, Andrew Cavett, of Lookout Mountain. Born in Memphis August 5, 1932, to the late Van Andrew Sr. and Anne Broyles Cavett, Van grew up in Mississippi, primarily in Jackson where he graduated from Millsaps College. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa honorary leadership fraternity. During his college career, he also worked as a sportswriter for the Jackson Daily News while serving as two-year editor of the college newspaper, only the second person in the school's history to do so, his predecessor being his future father-in-law, Norman Bradley. Following his 1953 graduation from Millsaps and US Army service, he received a master's degree from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He briefly worked in Roanoke Va., then joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times in 1957 as a copy editor.
In 1964 the family moved to Louisville, Ky. where he served the Louisville Times in a number of positions; after a Professional Journalism Fellowship to Stanford University, he became an editorial writer and later Editorial Editor of the Times, then the first Editorial Editor of the combined Courier-Journal and Louisville Times and finally Editorial Editor of the Courier-Journal when it assumed single status. Van retired briefly in 1989, then moved to Allentown Pa. as Editorial Editor of The Morning-Call, where he brought best-of-state awards to that newspaper within a year, to add to a number of other personal and professional recognitions in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. His journalistic career not only afforded him the opportunity to travel the world but allowed him personal access to interesting personalities from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Yasser Arafat to surviving dissidents from a number of former Iron Curtain countries.
Van particularly valued his close connection with other editorial writers through membership in - and presidency of - the National Conference of Editorial Writers, which awarded him a Life Membership in 1995. Upon his retirement from The Morning-Call in 1997, Van and Caroline returned to Lookout Mountain where they have continued to make their home in the house where they met. Over the years, Van maintained an active involvement in a variety of community pursuits, most especially the Episcopal Church, which he served as vestryman and diocesan representative in Louisville, Bethlehem Pa., and Lookout Mountain.
At the time of his death, he was in the third part of a four-year Education for Ministry program to prepare lay members for more extensive leadership. Van also participated in the initial Senior Neighbors Leadership Academy and the first Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute in Chattanooga.
Visitation will take place Wednesday, April 14, at 2 p.m. in Talbird Hall at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lookout Mountain, with a memorial service at 3 p.m. in the church and interment in the Harriet Caldwell Garden. The family requests that memorials be made to the Church of the Good Shepherd music program or to the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts. Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 7454 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN.
Burial:
Cremated, Other.
Specifically: Memorial Service Church of Good Shepherd interment in the Harriet Caldwell Garden.
In 1964 the family moved to Louisville, Ky. where he served the Louisville Times in a number of positions; after a Professional Journalism Fellowship to Stanford University, he became an editorial writer and later Editorial Editor of the Times, then the first Editorial Editor of the combined Courier-Journal and Louisville Times and finally Editorial Editor of the Courier-Journal when it assumed single status. Van retired briefly in 1989, then moved to Allentown Pa. as Editorial Editor of The Morning-Call, where he brought best-of-state awards to that newspaper within a year, to add to a number of other personal and professional recognitions in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. His journalistic career not only afforded him the opportunity to travel the world but allowed him personal access to interesting personalities from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Yasser Arafat to surviving dissidents from a number of former Iron Curtain countries.
Van particularly valued his close connection with other editorial writers through membership in - and presidency of - the National Conference of Editorial Writers, which awarded him a Life Membership in 1995. Upon his retirement from The Morning-Call in 1997, Van and Caroline returned to Lookout Mountain where they have continued to make their home in the house where they met. Over the years, Van maintained an active involvement in a variety of community pursuits, most especially the Episcopal Church, which he served as vestryman and diocesan representative in Louisville, Bethlehem Pa., and Lookout Mountain.
At the time of his death, he was in the third part of a four-year Education for Ministry program to prepare lay members for more extensive leadership. Van also participated in the initial Senior Neighbors Leadership Academy and the first Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute in Chattanooga.
Visitation will take place Wednesday, April 14, at 2 p.m. in Talbird Hall at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lookout Mountain, with a memorial service at 3 p.m. in the church and interment in the Harriet Caldwell Garden. The family requests that memorials be made to the Church of the Good Shepherd music program or to the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts. Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 7454 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN.
Burial:
Cremated, Other.
Specifically: Memorial Service Church of Good Shepherd interment in the Harriet Caldwell Garden.
Events
| Birth | 3 Jul 1932 | Memphis, Shelby Co., Tennessee |  | ||
| Death | 11 Apr 2010 | Lookout Mountain, Hamilton Co., Tennessee | | ||
| Burial | Cremated | |
Families
| Father | Van Andrew Cavett (1900 - 1963) |
| Mother | Anne Broyles (1905 - 2001) |
| Sibling | Woods Broyles Cavett (1937 - 2007) |
Endnotes
1. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.
2. Find A Grave.
3. Find A Grave.