John Thomas Greene, 83, of Lake Ozark and St. Peters, Mo., died peacefully on Jan. 30 after a struggle with Parkinson’s disease dementia.
Mr. Greene had practiced law in his hometown of Knoxville for many years before moving in 2007 to Missouri, where his wife, fellow Knoxvillian Kay Henderson Greene, has family.
Mr. Greene will be remembered for his warm and genial manner; a love of baseball, billiards, and golf, all of which he played, along with senior league softball; an enthusiasm for multiple musical genres combined with an exceptional bass voice that stood out in church choirs and karaoke sessions, not to mention family singalongs and country solos covering George Jones and other greats; and an irreverent sense of humor paired with a sometimes quizzical mind. He said more than once he wanted his epitaph to read, “What was that all about?”
Mr. Greene was born on May 30, 1941, the first child of John William and Senta von Schrenk Greene. He attended the former St. Mary School, then Knoxville Catholic High School. Once graduated, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He served with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. He also was part of a force deployed during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
After the Marine Corps, Mr. Greene earned bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, worked at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and was a lawyer for the company in New York City. He then returned to Knoxville to represent plaintiffs in personal injury cases through the Law Offices of J.D. Lee. He was deeply committed to seeking justice for his clients.
Besides his wife, Kay, the former Kathryn Monica Shepherd, he is survived by his daughters, Sharon (Doug) Greene Bitzer of Knoxville, and Rachel Leah Greene of Irvington, N.Y., and Knoxville, both from a previous marriage to Marianne Kelly Greene of Knoxville; stepsons, Charles (Terri) Raymond Henderson III and Timothy (Lesli) Frederick Henderson, both of the St. Louis area; and brothers and sisters, Susan (John) Alma Bennett of Lexington Park, Md., Catherine Virginia Greene of Knoxville, Richard (Alice) William Greene, Knoxville, Robert (Elizabeth) Trifon Greene, Arlington, Va., Thomas Anthony Greene, Memphis, and Senta (Jonathan) Victoria Greene, Nashville; and many more loving friends and relatives. To his siblings, he was and always will be “Johnny.”
He was preceded in death by his parents and a son, John William Greene II.
A funeral Mass for Mr. Greene was celebrated on Feb. 22 at Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville. A burial service followed at Berry Highland Memorial Cemetery, where a celebration of life for Mr. Greene was held.
Donations in Mr. Greene’s memory may be made to the American Parkinson Disease Association.