Edward Sherrill Arnold Sr.

EDWARD  SHERRILL  ARNOLD  SR.

July  26,  1932 – OCTOBER  10,  2021

          Born at home in Danville, Kentucky as the youngest of seven children to Susie White and Marion Francis Arnold Sr., Edward Sherrill Arnold, Sr. died on Sunday, October 10.  Remaining healthy and active until a month ago, Eddie's death was the result of contracting break-through Covid from a non-vaccinated person at a local rehab facility.

           Growing up in the height of the Depression, Eddie started delivering groceries by bicycle at age six for a corner grocery store owned by Cotton and Midge Day in New Albany, IN.  He also raised chickens in his backyard to sell them or their eggs to Cotton and other neighborhood families.  While working as a stock clerk at Kroger, he attended New Albany High School, graduating in June 1951.

           In August 1951, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Quartermaster during the Korean war on both the USS Conserver (ARS-39) and the USS Mt. Baker (AE-4).  He received the Korean Service Medal, the UN Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.  On one visit to Siam, the King and Queen of Siam welcomed Eddie and his shipmates to their country, presenting them with cufflinks and sandalwood fans to give to their girlfriends or wives.  His family still has that fan framed in his home.  He left active duty due to an honorable medical discharge in August 1955 with full discharge as a Disabled American Veteran in 1959.

           While on shore leave, he married Nila Ruth Grow (August 1936-September 1997) of Lancaster (Garrard County), KY, in his parents' home in New Albany, IN on January 2, 1954.  They had met in New Albany four years earlier when she was 13 and he was 17.  He was touching up the paint on his car parked on the street, using a can of spray paint.  Nila Ruth paused on the sidewalk to inform him that his blue spray paint did not match the car's original color of blue.  They were married for 43 years until her death on September 16, 1997, from multiple myeloma.

           After leaving active duty from the Navy, Eddie and Nila Ruth moved to Louisville, Ky. where he worked as a draftsman for Louisville Lumber and Millwork Company (1956-1959), with founder Henry Brewer.  Eddie's most proud achievement was working on the design and interior layouts for Freedom Hall and the Kentucky fairgrounds.  Years later, he still knew all the secret backways to navigate throughout Freedom Hall.  In 1959, Eddie started working at Fischer's Packing Company working for Henry and Carl Fischer as a draftsman and later as its Facility Operations Engineer.  Eddie drew the blueprint plans for every building expansion up to his departure in 1973.  That year, Eddie became the Facility Operations Engineer for Parsons Beef Company in Danville, KY, owned by Al Parsons, also a former employee of Fischer's, where he also continued his talent for drawing blueprints for building improvements and expansions.  In 1980, Eddie was the first employee hired by The Melville Corporation (Thom McAn Shoes) to oversee the construction from groundbreaking ceremony to completion of the first industrial buildings built in  Danville's Industrial Park.  Daily, Eddie worked with a little-known Glasgow Kentucky construction company owned by a widow and her college kids—Grey Construction Company.  It was Eddie's noteworthy accomplishment in overseeing this construction vital to the economic growth of Central Kentucky that Governor John Y. Brown commissioned him as a Kentucky Colonel.  He proudly hung the framed commission in his family room and later in his bedroom.  He continued as Thom McAn's Facilities Operations Manager until his retirement in 1993 due to a traumatic head injury from a fall at home. 

           Following his wife's death, Eddie lived independently for twenty years.  After moving to Lexington in 2002, he was a daily frequent visitor dressed in a suit and tie to Lexington's finest restaurants—Perkins, Bob Evans, KFC, IHop—where every morning and afternoon  waitresses, cooks, and owners alike welcomed him with a "Hi! Eddie!"

           In June 2017, Eddie moved in with his daughter, Alison, and teenage grandsons Harry & Henry, where he lived until his passing.                   

           He was a Disabled American Korean War Veteran, a member of the American Legion, was awarded the Domain of the Golden Dragon, and was a fifty-plus years member of The Grand Lodge of Kentucky F. & A.M., Louisville Lodge, and later, the Lancaster Lodge.  For several years he served as a deacon while he was a member at South Louisville Christian Church (Southern Parkway) in Louisville.

           Daddy had a sly, dry sense of humor.  He could build or fix anything.  He repaired and refinished the antique furniture in his home.  He built the cherry grandfather clock standing in his entrance hall.  He drafted the blueprints for his and Nila Ruth's home on Sugar Creek Hill in Garrard County, doing much of the construction himself.  He loved anything about Hawaii, collected Ray Harm prints, and enjoyed music from Big Band to Rock-n-roll to Country-Western to Gospel.  He spoke enough Japanese to make us kids think he was really cool.  Sometimes his response to anything asked was singing “Ginza Kankan Musume”.  He loved fried chicken.  The Thanksgiving turkey legs were his and his alone.

          Daddy loved to tell stories about his ancestors and was immensely proud of his heritage.  He was especially proud that his great-grandfather Elisha, related to the Campbells, had established one of the first Campbellite Churches in Kentucky—the Pleasant Grove Christian Church in Garrard County—where his grandfather Elijah Sinkler (Sinclair) Arnold was a church elder and is buried on the church grounds, and where his father, Marion, and brothers Clyde and Bill were guest preachers many, many times.  Mother's family and ancestors were also multi-generational members of the church.  Although he never graduated college, three of his children and three of his grandchildren did with several obtaining multiple/post-graduate degrees and honors.

           In addition to his parents, Eddie was predeceased by his oldest sister, Lorene Frances Arnold, his brothers Clyde Coffee Arnold, William (Bill) Garnett Arnold, and Marion F. Arnold, Jr.,  his wife Nila Ruth, and a niece Kimberly Rose Arnold Culler.

           His survivors are his sister, Mary Houston Arnold Muir Morey McKercher, and his brother John Mark (Betty Ruth Haney) all New Albany, IN; his children:  Iris Camille (Bob) Novak, Maryland Heights, MO, Robert Butler Arnold, Stanford, KY, Alison Lynn Arnold, Lexington, KY, and Edward Sherrill (Virginia) Arnold, Jr., Berea, KY; grandchildren:  Quentin Carl (Amanda) Arnold, Lexington, KY,  Edward Sherrill Arnold III, Richmond, KY, Miranda Jean Arnold, Cynthiana, KY. twins Harry Jacob and Henry Jarod Arnold of Lexington, KY, Landon Arnold, Berea, KY; his sister-in-law Wilma Duncan Grow Miller, Dale TX; and by multiple nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

          To protect the health of his nonagenarian sister, brother, and sister-in-law,  as well as family and friends, masks are required for visitation and graveside services.  The family does not wish another family to suffer the loss of their loved one due to the non-vaccinated transfer of the Covid/Delta virus. 

           Visitation will be at Milward-Man O' War, 1509 Trent Boulevard, Lexington, on Friday, October 22, 2021, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for vaccinated guests; and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. for non-vaccinated guests.

   Pastor Fred Willett, of Pleasant Grove Christian Church, will officiate at a private family graveside service with a U. S. Navy Honor Guard and honors at Bellevue Cemetery in Danville, KY  on Saturday, October 23, 2021, at 2 p.m.

          Pallbearers are Grandsons Quentin C. Arnold, Edward S. Arnold, III, Harry J. Arnold, and Henry J. Arnold, Nephew David Alan Arnold, and Son-in-Law Robert Novak.

           The family encourages donations to ITN Bluegrass which provides a community-based, and community-supported, economically viable, and consumer-oriented, quality transportation service for seniors and visually impaired adults anywhere in the Fayette and Northern Jessamine Counties.

           The family also encourages you the next time you dine out to tip generously the serving crew in the memory of "Hi! Eddie!"