First Posted: 1/15/2009

Thomas Shepard Jenrette, 94, of 2003 Waters Edge Drive, died March 8, 2006, at Wellington Place Assisted Living of Johnson City.
The funeral will be 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Vaughan-Guynn Chapel. Burial will follow in the Felts Cemetery in Galax.
He was born in Marietta, N.C., on May 23, 1911, a son of the late William Thomas Jenrette and Sybil Oliver Jenrette.
Jenrette graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1932 with a bachelor of science degree in Education. While a student at UNC, he was employed as a gym instructor in the Department of Physical Education. After graduation, Jenrette went to Greensboro, N.C., to serve as head of the science department and director of athletics at Greensboro High School. He coached the school's wrestling teams and trained several state champions. In Greensboro he met Virginia Harris, a student at Greensboro College, and they were married in 1938 following her graduation.
He left teaching to become director of Parks and Recreation in Greensboro and later took a similar position in Roanoke, Va. In 1947 he became the secretary-manager of the Wilkes Chamber of Commerce in North Wilkesboro, N.C.
The Jenrettes moved to Galax, Va., in 1951, and Mr. Jenrette became general manager of Newton's Stores. Later he and Mrs. Jenrette opened their own Jenrette's Stores in several locations in Virginia and North Carolina.
Jenrette was active in community affairs and served as president of the Galax Kiwanis Club. He was a deacon and served as superintendent of Sunday school at the First Baptist Church of Galax, where he and his family were members.
The Jenrettes retired in 1979 but continued active lives in Galax and at their second home in Myrtle Beach, S.C. They moved to Wellington Place Assisted Living in Johnson City in 2001.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Harris Jenrette; and a brother, Julius Poe Jenrette.
Surviving are a son, Thomas Jenrette Jr., of Johnson City; a daughter, Catherine Smith of Green Mountain, N.C.; two grandchildren, Elizabeth Boulter of Burnsville, N.C., and Stephen Smith of Spruce Pine, N.C.; two great-grandchildren, Isaac and Rachel Boulter of Burnsville, N.C.; and several nieces and nephews.
The family will receive friends Wednesday from 1 p.m. until the service at the chapel.
Paid obituary