By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood lost several valued members of its community this year. In tribute, we’d like to remember a few of them.

R.N. ‘Roose’ Herbert: Paralyzed farmer

Over 60 years ago, Robert Nathaniel “Roose” Herbert was a star on Nashville’s Central High School football team. The senior offensive and defensive end “played the whole game. He was a tremendous athlete,” Herbert’s nephew Tom Herbert shared. In addition to being a talented football player, he was being scouted by the St. Louis Cardinals for his baseball skills.

But during football practice on Oct. 2, 1950, the Golden Tornado star was injured during tackling drill that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Though he later recovered feeling from the waist up, he never had full use of his hands again. But that didn’t stop him from his first love – farming. It was a profession he continued until his death Jan. 31 at the age of 78.

Herbert lived on Woodland View Farm, located on Old Smyrna Road, his entire life. The 215-acre Century Farm has been in the Herbert family since 1820.

“That’s what kept him going,” Tom Herbert said. “He did all he could do, and more than most walking people.” Click here

Glenn Huff:  Hometown grocer

A native of the Burwood community in Williamson County, Huff opened Huff’s Market in 1949 in the building that is now Inside Out furniture store on Wilson Pike Circle. In 1983, he and his son Mike Huff relocated the store across the street in the building that is now Brentwood Interiors.

Mr. Huff died April 21 at age 89.

“He was a kind and generous man,” recalled Andy Beasley, owner of Brentview Realty, whose family moved next door to the Huffs before he and Mike Huff started school. “Mr. and Mrs. Huff were Ozzie and Harriett. Of course, Brentwood was a different place in those days, but he made everyone feel special.”

Huff’s Grocery wasn’t just a place to buy food or a soda and snack, it was a community meeting place, Beasley shared. “It was a hub of activity.” Click here.

John Lee: Pharmacist, business owner

John Lee, longtime owner and pharmacist at Lee's Apothecary in Brentwood, died on May 4 at age 86.

Born November 13, 1924 in Chapel Hill, Tenn., Mr. Lee grew up in Nashville and joined the U.S. Navy during WWII serving on the USS Tonawanda. In September of 1954 he opened his own pharmacy, Lee’s Apothecary, located on West End Avenue in Nashville. In 1964, he moved the business to Belmont Boulevard and opened another location in Brentwood in 1971. He retired in 1997. Click here.

Gary Neal Armstrong: The Shoe-shine guy

Anyone who has walked down the steps inside the Maryland Farms YMCA has no doubt seen Gary Neal Armstrong. The shoe shine guy held court in his spot by the steps for close to a decade.

Armstrong suffered a fatal heart attack in his apartment Aug. 14.

Starting in 2003, his post at the base of the steps grew from buffing a few pairs of shoes a day, to a rock-and-roll boom box empire of shoes stacked half way up the wall waiting to be shined, occasional items for sale, and the biggest assortment of Dum Dum lollipops in town. 

Betsy O’Donnell carted her three kids past Gary almost every day for the past six years.  “We are just crushed.  Everyday he’s there.  It was always a helpful enticement to get the kids to go to the nursery for my much needed workouts,” O’Donnell shared. “’You can visit the sucker guy’ worked every time.  He saved a lot of moms.”Click here.

Ermon Wayne Capps Lature: Local Habitat founder
Ermon Lature, age 79, passed away on Christmas Day. Through his efforts with the Telephone Pioneers organization he was introduced to and worked with Habitat for Humanity in Davidson County. He later served as founder and executive director of the Brentwood-based Williamson County Habitat for Humanity and retired after 15 years of service. A Franklin resident, he also served as a deacon with Brentwood Baptist Church.Click here.