James Arnold Russell, known as Mose, departed this life December 18, 2019 at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. He was born March 3, 1939 in Loudon, Tennessee to Joe Thomas and Ida Josephine Love Russell. He attended Dunbar (Loudon, TN) and Maynard (Knoxville, TN) schools. He was raised in the Baptist faith.
After retiring as a Concrete Mason with Duracap Asphalt Paving Company, he became an entrepreneur. Through the years, he owned and operated several businesses. He possessed an abundance of love and loyalty for his family and community. He enjoyed traveling across the country and sharing the wisdom of his life experiences. Stories of his youth along with an innate foresight were often preceded with him saying “Listen, let me tell you something” concluded with “You know what I’m saying.” He fought and strived to defy major odds, many doubts, as well as the urge to quit. He lived one day at a time, to the fullest.
Preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Joe T. Jr., Charles N. and John B. Russell; sisters, Odella Buford, Betty Ann Rodgers and Josephine Russell; nephews, Joe T. Russell III and Phillip C. Muckle; brother-in-law, Rev. Willie Buford and sister-in-law, Essie Pearl Russell.
Left to cherish his memory: son, Terry Wilder; devoted nieces and caregivers, Portia and Philisha Muckle; adopted granddaughter, Ashley Day of Oak Ridge, TN and a host of other family and friends to include Frank Hodge, Thomas Jones, Stephen Brown, Bill Collier, Brian Buckmon, Camille Calloway, Mary Winton and Linda Riddles.
Saturday, December 28, 2019, the family will receive friends from 11 to 11:30 a.m. with funeral service to follow at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 2137 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, Knoxville, TN. Reverend Robert Sherrod of Word of God Ministry to officiate. Interment will immediately follow at Riverview Cemetery, Loudon County, TN. Flowers may be delivered to the church on the morning of the service. Professional arrangements entrusted to Patton Funeral Home, Brian L. Buckmon, LFD 1-800-824-8283 or www.pattonfuneralhome1962.com