William Courter

William Robert Courter died April 24 in a local hospital room filled with family.

Born April 3, 1930, in Lafayette, Indiana, he was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather who will be remembered for his laughter and compassion and his love of making pancakes with his grandchildren. Bill was in the middle of a four-year enlistment in the U.S. Navy when he met and married Gussie in 1952. The two loved sharing the story of their whirlwind courtship and marriage. “I met your mother in Washington D.C. in August of 1952,” he said in a short memoir for the family. “She was with the FBI at a time when they had an impeccable reputation and I was in the Navy. She can tell you more if you ask. That night when I returned to my ship in Norfolk, I wrote to tell my mother that I had just met the girl I want to marry. And we did in December, just four months later. Some would say that we would be lucky if the marriage would last sixty days let alone sixty years. In fact, the priest who married us took me into his office and strongly suggested that I leave through his private door. He said he would some how explain my absence.”After the Navy they moved to Lafayette where the team of Gussie and Bill graduated Bill from Purdue University and began to raise their children. The family moved to the Chattanooga area in 1968 when Bill became employed by the Volunteer State Life Insurance Company. Over the years, he devoted much time and energy to coaching youth sports and serving on numerous boards and committees at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and School and at Cumberland Youth Foundation. He was as loved and respected by friends of his children as he was by his own family. The Courter house in Brainerd was often the starting, and ending spot, for each of his kids and their friends going from social event to social event as they transitioned from elementary to high school and beyond.Among his fondest accomplishments was co-creating the Courter Classic with brothers John and Jim and lifelong friend “Chairman” Bud Kamp. It was an annual family golf tournament that was held for almost 20 years in various locations in Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. While he loved sports, especially golf and baseball, especially the Chicago Cubs, the Classic was always about bringing family together. He was employed by Monumental General in Baltimore, Md. and then CHUBB Life America back in Chattanooga where he retired in 1991.Bill is a past president of the Credit Insurers Association, a group of insurance companies located in 10 Southeastern states.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Margaret and Jack Courter of Lafayette, IN.

He is survived by his wife, Gussie; two brothers, John (Shirley) of Savannah, Ga. and James of Madison, IN.

Also surviving are Gussie and Bill’s five children and their spouses and nine grandchildren and great-grandchildren . They are son Michael (Jackie) grandson Matthew and granddaughter Olivia; Son Robert and grandson Graham and granddaughter Dillon (Randy) Albright and great-grandson Eli; son Barry (Kelley) grandson Carson (Amanda) great-granddaughter Lilly and great-grandson Charlie and granddaughter Grace (Zac) Moxley; son Scott (Amanda) and granddaughter Story; daughter Colleen (Jim) Teal, grandson James and granddaughter Lauren.

The family will receive friends from 6 – 7:30 PM Thursday, April 29, 2021 at the East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, 404 South Moore Road with a prayer service at 7:30 PM. A funeral mass will be held at 1:30 PM Friday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church with Father Mike Creson celebrating.

Burial will follow in Chattanooga National Cemetery with full military honors.

Donations may be made to OLPH Church, School or Notre Dame High School.

Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com