Rev. Donald Lee Cobb

Funeral services for Rev. Donald Lee Cobb, age 80, of Rickman will be conducted at 2 p.m., Friday, January 19, 2018, at First Baptist Church of Cookeville. Rev. Scott McKinney, Rev. Bill Stone, and Dr. Randy Davis will officiate. The family will welcome friends at First Baptist Church of Cookeville on Thursday evening from 5 until 9 p.m., then on Friday from noon until the services. The burial will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 20, 2018, at Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashville. Rev. Cobb passed away peacefully from this life into the arms of Jesus on Saturday afternoon, January 13, 2018, at UT Medical Center in Knoxville with his loving wife and children by his side. He was born December 18, 1937 in Ellis County, Oklahoma to the late Lenard Harrison Elva Belle Arthurs Cobb. Donald grew up on a farm in northwest Oklahoma where his family raised dairy cattle and wheat. He was a 1956 graduate of Shattuck High School. As a teenager, during harvest time, he traveled across the western plains following the wheat harvest. It was while riding his horse on his familys farm that he heard the audible call of God saying, Go preach. He then started his 56 years of service to the Lord b...[more]

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ttending Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he would meet the love of his life, Miss Jeanina Grace Meriwether. They were married in August 1959. The first church he pastored was Kickapoo Indian Baptist Church in Shawnee, while a student in college. It was there that they had their first child. After graduation, they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended seminary and pastored Wolf Creek Baptist Church in Wolf Creek, Kentucky. During this time, he also started working full-time at Ford Motor Company. He later pastored Portland Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, while continuing to work full-time at Ford Motor Company. While in Louisville, Donald and Jeanina had three more children. In 1972, he accepted the call to full-time ministry at Smith Springs Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. A few years later, they moved to Clinton, Tennessee, where he pastored Black Oak Baptist Church. In 1980, Rev. Cobb accepted the call to pastor Witcher Baptist Church in Belle, West Virginia, where he also served as a volunteer fireman and EMT at the local Belle Volunteer Fire Department. After that, they moved to Henderson, Kentucky, where Donald pastored Audubon Baptist Church. In 1987, he moved to Livingston, Tennessee where he would spend the next 27 years of his life preaching the Good News of Christ at First Baptist Church until his retirement in August 2014. He loved children, and, following his many years as a pastor, he stated that one of the things he missed most upon retirement was his weekly worship time with the children, his Pastors Pals. Rev. Cobb loved to tinker and fix things. The more challenging, the better. He enjoyed woodworking and making things with his hands. He had a passion for cars. When his children were teenagers, he loved restoring older cars and trucks with them for their first cars. Because of his love for cars and his children, after his children left for college, he would travel hundreds of miles when needed to repair and fix one of their cars, have dinner with them, and return home. He was a proud Oklahoman and an avid University of Oklahoma football and University of Kentucky basketball fan. He had a passion for being involved in mission work. In 1982, he had the opportunity to travel to Nigeria where he preached the Gospel and led many people to Christ. He also went on numerous other mission trips throughout his ministry where he helped build and repair churches, homes and a Baptist university. Rev. Cobb held a Masters Degree in Theology and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Cookeville, where he taught Sunday School and was in the Happy Tones senior adult choir. Over the years, he was active in Baptist work in a number of state conventions and local associations where he served. He also served on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and on the Advisory Board of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Donald was a devoted and loving husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Jeanina Meriwether Cobb of Rickman, TN; daughter, Whitney Rhodonna Cobb Marcum husband David of Oak Ridge, TN; sons, Robert Harrison Cobb of Blount County, TN, Brent Stuart Cobb wife Julie of Lenoir City, TN Christopher Grant Cobb wife Jamie of Brentwood, TN; grandchildren, Cameron Cobb, Emma Grace Cobb, Grant Cobb, Jenna Cobb, Taylor Marcum, Jay Cobb Mary Cobb; twin sister, Bonnie Shepherd of Shattuck, OK sister, Nancy Kirby of Louisville, KY; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Rev. Cobb was preceded in death by his brother, W.E. Cobb; sister, Rosona Yocum. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Operation Christmas Child program by contacting Speck Funeral Home at 300 North Church Street, Livingston, TN 38570 Pallbearers to serve are his sons, son-in-law, grandsons, and nephews. Honorary Pallbearers are his brothers-in-law.