Gene Shuxteau

A memorial service for Gene D. Shuxteau, 74, of Hendersonville will be held. Thursday, July 24, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel at Hendersonville First Baptist Church with Minister of Missions Mike McClanahan officiating. Visitation with the family is at 1 p.m. before the service. Gene was born October 18, 1950 and died July 17, 2025.

Last Thursday morning, July 17, Gene was doing what of the things he loved most: he was playing tennis and beating the socks off someone. He and his good friends, Pete Hales, Graham Allen and Larry Lassiter, were sitting on a bench outside the courts at Indian Lake after playing. He told them he was good.

But it turns out he wasn’t. We don’t know exactly what went wrong. The guys were chatting. Gene was telling them about his grandson Braden’s plan to start a tennis league of his own. He said Braden’s name, then simply collapsed. His friends immediately tried to resuscitate him, called an ambulance. His grandson, Mason, was working at the Indian Lake pool concession stand, and someone told him they were taking Gene to the hospital. Gene was alive but unconscious, and he passed into Heaven within the hour.

Gene was a young 74, who loved his family. He loved his wife, Jan. He took the best care of all of them, whether it was driving Mason or Braden to track or tennis or teasing his granddaughter Cara about her studies at Johns Hopkins University and telling her to have a little fun. He was a great dad to Justin and Avril, a wonderful grandpa and a wonderful husband. Jan always said he was the best blessing the Lord had given her.

Gene was the oldest of Gene and Marilies Shuxteau’s four children. Nicknamed “Doc” as a kid, he devoured Tarzan books and movies, anything science fiction or exciting. He grew up in Haverford, Pa., and graduated from Haverford High School in 1968. His dad had already been transferred to Nashville, so the family packed up and moved to the house they’d bought on Indian Lake Road as soon as school was out. Old Hickory Lake was a big draw.

Gene Sr. loved to fish and hunt, and Gene the son, an Eagle Scout, did it all with him. They dammed up a little part of the lake behind their house, and often let the fish they caught swim free. Neighborhood kids were sometimes invited over to try their luck at the Shuxteau’s miniature fish pond. At that time the property behind their house was undeveloped, so the Shuxteau men hiked and hunted. They also played a lot of tennis.

Gene was a veteran of the National Guard. During his six years of service, he dealt with payroll. He liked to joke that he was one of the Fighting Accountants.

Gene graduated with a degree in accounting from UT Knoxville and attended UT’s graduate school of business. He met his wife of 53 years, Jan Waggoner Shuxteau, in freshman English class in 1969. They discovered that they both lived in Hendersonville (she’d lived there since the Waggoner family moved to 138 Riviera Dr., in 1957). The two were engaged in 1970 and married Dec. 18, 1971, in Hendersonville. The girls in their wedding party—Kathy Cole, Wanda Johnson, Sharon Faircloth, Cindy Bowen, Lisa Sabia and Tempie Jones—still live around here.

Their son Justin was born in ’75, and their daughter, Avril S. Traylor, was born in 1979. They rented their first house from friends Paul and Jackie Decker, just a couple of miles from Jan’s parents, Ben and Lynn Waggoner.

Gene and Jan have been members of First Baptist Church for more than 40 years, most of that time in the class currently led by Mike Brown and Richard Gaia.

Gene retired as a controller for the Robert Bosch Co. after about 30 years of service. He worked first at the Gallatin plant, which was the largest employer in Sumner County outside of government. When the company moved to Mexico and its building sold in 2007, he remained with Bosch as a corporate controller.

Gene was athletic and loved playing sports. He played soccer, basketball, handball, racquetball, softball and tennis—especially tennis. He played and taught sports to Justin and Avril, to neighborhood kids and lately to his grandkids. Sometimes he made up sports, such as bicycle polo with croquet mallets and tennis balls.He was very much "that dad." The one who coached his son's team year after year and loved it. The one who traveled across the Southeast to watch his daughter play soccer. The one who admired his granddaughter's talent for piano and math and enjoyed teaching his grandsons tennis strategy. The one with an impeccable sense of humor. He was the greatest dad.

Gene and Jan traveled the world. He liked planning their trips, organizing spreadsheets then copying them in triplicate. He was undaunted by crossing the Alps in a rental car and driving on the “wrong side” of a British road. They drove throughout Europe and the U.S. and took tours to China, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, India, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Cambodia to Anker Watt, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Panama and the Caribbean. They were always delighted to tell friends all about the places they went and to provide them with one of Gene’s famous spreadsheets.

Gene and Jan were some of Indian Lake Theater’s most devoted customers, always going to the movies, especially the angel films. He was a connoisseur of movie trivia.

Gene is survived by his loving wife, Jan; son, Justin (Kiki) of Brentwood, daughter, Avril (Matt) of Hendersonville; granddaughter, Carissa Shuxteau, Brentwood; grandsons, Mason and Bradon Traylor of Hendersonville; sisters, Dar Vooz (Joel) of Oley, Pa., and Lisa Sabia (Chris) of Franklin, Tenn.; nephew, C.J. Sabia, Brentwood; nieces, Lisa Glover, Westminister, SC; Laura Lee, Malvern, Pa.; Leslie Nguyen, Frostburg, Md.; brother-in-law, Benny Waggoner (Denise) of Fairfield, Iowa; several grand nieces and grand nephews. His brother Mark Shuxteau of Hamburg, Pa. is deceased.

Gene was a true gift from God to everyone who knew him. He loved his wife and his precious children and grandchildren with all his heart. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for them. He was an amazing example of how to love your wife and make a marriage strong. And what a wonderful example of how to be a caring and involved father he set for his family. He was baptized at First Baptist Church by the Rev. Courtney Wilson, and he worshiped Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Gene was taken home too soon – but he made the most of the time God gave him by loving and taking care of his family and spending precious time with them. His hearty laugh will be greatly missed!