W4KDX - October 29, 2018
George H. Cave
Tampa, FL

QCWA # 11476
W4KDX - George H. Cave
First Call: W1QWF

Tampa Bay Times:
CAVE, Rev. George Harold Jr.

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, 22 February 1927, son of G. Harold Cave and Charlotte Elizabeth (Pelsang) Cave, passed away on October 29, 2018.

In June of 1944, he graduated from Newton High School and promptly enlisted in the U.S. Maritime Service. After basic seamanship training at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., he attended the U.S.M.S. Radio School located at Hoffman Island, N.Y. He graduated with the Second Class Radiotelegraph License issued by the Federal Communications Commission, and received the commission as Warrant Officer, Radio Electrician, in the Maritime Service.

He served as a Merchant Marine Radio Officer on two Liberty ships, taking materiel first to France, and then to India. While at anchorage in the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon), World War II came to an end. He continued his seagoing career, eventually sailing for the US. Army Transportation Service, which became the Military Sea Transport Service under the US Navy. He was a long-time licensed Amateur Radio Operator, call sign W4KDX.

He met his first wife, Margaret Jo Horn, R.N. of East Bend, N.C., aboard the USAT General Hersey. She served as one of the ship's four Registered Nurses. They married in 1951 and had four children. They were married for almost fifty-two years, until her death in 2002.

He attended The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, earning a B.A. degree with Honors in Philosophy in 1956, the degree S.T.B. from Berkley Divinity School (affiliated with Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut in 1959, and the S.T.M. degree from the University of the South School of Theology, Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1964.

Ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church in June 1959 by Bishop Stokes of Massachusetts, he was ordained a Priest that same year by Bishop Henry Louttit of the Diocese of South Florida. He served Episcopal Churches in Okeechobee and Marathon, Florida, before moving to Tampa.

In Tampa, he was Chaplain and Master of Religious Studies for four years at the Berkeley Preparatory School, and also served as Assistant Priest in St. Mary's, St. Andrew's, and St. John's Parishes. He also served for six months as Interim Vicar at St. John the Divine, Ruskin, Florida. Following that, he taught for twenty-three years at The University of Tampa as Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion. At age sixty-five, he retired from the University but remained active in the Episcopal Church. He served a summer chapel, The Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland, North Carolina, for twenty-five summers. He celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination in 2009.

In April 2005, he married the former Constance Anne Hatges Speronis, a widow. She predeceased him in 2012.

He is survived by his four children, Mrs. Nancy Scoville, of Nashville, Tennessee, Stephen H. Cave, of Benton, Arkansas, George "Sonny" H. Cave III, of Mesa, Arizona, and Mrs. Catherine Rosenbloom, of Los Angeles, California; and his eleven grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to The Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland, North Carolina, St. John's Episcopal Church, Tampa, Florida, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, or the charity of one's choice. A Celebration of Life service will held in Tampa FL at a later date.


W4KDX - George H. Cave

DIOCESE of SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

The Rev. George Harold Cave, 1927-2018
October 30, 2018

By From Staff Reports

NASHVILLE - The Rev. George Harold Cave, a priest resident in both the Diocese of Southwest Florida and its predecessor the Diocese of South Florida, died Monday, Oct. 29, 2018.

George Harold Cave, born Feb. 22, 1927 in Newton, Mass., received his B.A. from the University of the South in 1965, later attending the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the School of Theology at the University of the South.

He became a deacon on June 20, 1959 under Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes Jr., and was made priest on Dec 21, 1959 by then Bishop Henry Louttit.

Early in his career, he served as vicar of the Church of Our Savior, Okeechobee from 1959-62 and vicar of Blessed Sacrament in Indiantown from 1960-62. In the Florida Keys, Cave was vicar of St. Columba in Marathon from 1962-64, and at the same time priest in charge of St. Adrian's in Islamorada.

As an educator, he was master of religious studies at Berkeley Preparatory School from 1965-1968. He later became a professor of Philosophy and Religion at University of Tampa, where he served from 1969-92.

He had a special calling for ministry in the outdoors as chaplain and U.S. Park Ranger from 1971-1978, where he served at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. For 25 years from 1982-2007, he was the summer vicar of the Church of the Resurrection, Little Switzerland, North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

He served as assistant at St. John's in Tampa from 1985-1992, when he retired from active ministry. He married Constance Ann Hatges Speronis in 2005; she predeceased him in 2012.

In his retirement, he served as an assistant at St. Mary, Tampa, from 2008-2012.

A 10 a.m. Rite 1 Eucharist service is set for Monday, Dec. 10, 2018 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Tampa.

W4KDX - George H. Cave