Charles Russell Ryburn, 98, TN, obituary
With photo
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Charles Russell Ryburn, of Kingsport, Sullivan Co TN,
passed away peacefully at home on March 9, 2012, one day
after his 99th birthday.
Born March 8, 1913, in Erwin, Unicoi Co TN, Mr. Ryburn was
the last surviving sibling of eight. From early on, Mr.
Ryburn marched to the beat of a different drummer. After
training as a dancer, he struck out for New York City in
his late teens, where he performed on various stages in
Depression-era vaudeville. He could do it all—tap,
ballroom, jazz, ballet—but his specialty was aerial
acrobatic dancing. He also toured the country on the
legendary RKO and Loew's circuits.
Mr. Ryburn had some extraordinary adventures that fit
gracefully into the cultural timeline of the 20th century,
including teaching dance in Los Angeles, CA, in the late
1930s and studying dance in New York with a young, slim-
waisted, soon-to-be Hollywood starlet, Vera Ellen.
In the years leading up to World War II, he returned to
northeast Tennessee often to teach locally, but like other
young Americans, once the country entered the war, he
enlisted. Corporal Ryburn served 3½ years as a radio
operator in the artillery. North Africa? He was there.
Sicily? He was there. A case of malaria waylaid him from
the invasion of mainland Italy and landed him in a London
hospital, where he recuperated in the same room as Colonel
William Westmoreland, who would later become commander of
U.S. troops in Vietnam. Still, Mr. Ryburn made hay while
in London and upon recovering, danced with Adele Astaire,
sister and first partner on Broadway of the most famous of
hoofers, Fred Astaire. Mr. Ryburn went on to hit the hot
spots of Europe: Normandy, the Ardennes Forest, the
Rhineland. He earned 7 bronze stars and the good conduct
medal.
Following the war, Mr. Ryburn settled in Kingsport, TN,
where he married Dora Cooper, a schoolteacher from
Jonesboro, TN, who also played the piano. He opened a
number of dance schools in northeast Tennessee, many of
which operated simultaneously, including in Johnson City,
Bristol, Erwin, and Knoxville, where he appeared from time
to time on local television. He served as President of The
National Dance Educators of America in the 1950s and
choreographed several musicals for the Kingsport Theater
Guild in the next three decades. Mr. Ryburn also maintained
the Charles Ryburn School of Dance for almost 50 years,
primarily in a studio in his home on West Park Drive. He
retired from teaching at age 81. Family members speculate
that good genes and a lifetime of shuffle steps, pirouettes,
and grand leaps, sustained him to near the century mark.
Mr. Ryburn, a member of Grace Presbyterian Church, where
he served as a deacon, made frequent trips to New York,
including a few in his later years to visit his daughter,
Caroline Adele Ryburn, who survives him and resides in
Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and two children. His final
visit came at Christmas in 2009, along with his son,
Charles 'Chuck' Ryburn, of Kingsport, TN, who also survives
him. An enduring moment reported by Ms. Ryburn and her
brother from that visit—their father seated in a sofa
chair, grinning impishly while performing a soft shoe
number to the rhythmic melody of Bing Crosby's Christmas
in Killarney.
Mr. Ryburn is preceded in death by his wife, Dora (Cooper)
Ryburn; brothers, Lynn Ryburn, Ray Ryburn, Earl Ryburn,
Jack Ryburn, and William Ryburn; twin sisters, Margaret
Neely and Mary Brookshire; and niece, Dorothy Pagnani.
Other survivors include nephews, Roger Ryburn and wife
Loretta, of Oak Ridge, TN, Michael Brookshire and wife
Lynn, of Charleston, WV, Jim Spann and wife Bonnie, of
Palm Harbor, FL; nieces, Mary Susan Ferguson and husband
Rob, of Oak Ridge, TN, Mary Margaret Cofield, of
Huntsville, AL, and Nancy Harris and husband B.J., of
Birmingham, AL; granddaughter, Jamie Manley, of Orlando,
FL, granddaughter, Dora Friedman, grandson, Julian
Friedman, and son-in-law, Nick Friedman, of Brooklyn, NY;
seventeen great nieces and nephews; and twenty great-great
nieces and nephews.
Funeral will be held at Oak Hill Funeral Home, in the
J. Wayne Hamilton Memorial Chapel, on Saturday, March 17,
2012. Family will receive friends and guests from 12 p.m.
until 2 p.m., with a funeral service to follow at 2 p.m.
Graveside service will follow in the Garden of
Resurrection, with military rites by the American Legion
Hammond Post Kingsport Post #3 and Gate City Post #265.
Bring your tap shoes. Family and Friends will serve as
pallbearers.
Oak Hill Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of
Mr. Charles Russell Ryburn.
An online guest registry may be signed at
http://www.oakhillmemorialpark.comhttp://www.oakhillmemorialpark.com
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Re: Charles Russell Ryburn, 98, TN, s/o John and Cora Ryburn
E Gammon 3/16/12