William Ingram (Bill) Powell III

William Ingram (Bill) Powell III passed away peacefully on October 17, 2025, in Oberlin, Ohio. His son Bill IV and daughter Lynn were with him. He was 92 years old.

Bill was born in London, Kentucky, on June 12, 1933, with his grandmother Sarah Ferguson as midwife. He was the first child of William Ingram Powell Jr. and Martha Ferguson Powell, who had met in Harlan County, where his mother was a schoolteacher and his father worked for a coal company after migrating northward from Reynolds, Georgia. Bill grew up in the coal camps at Chevrolet and Coxton, a Kentucky boyhood that shaped his love of the mountains, his wit and delight in storytelling, his passion for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, and his respect for people of all walks of life. In Bill’s senior year at Carson-Newman College, across the Tennessee border in Jefferson City, he met freshman Joy Drinnon at a pool party where he was the entertainment as a stunt diver. After chatting with lively, lovely Joy on the pool’s edge, Bill famously did a belly flop that so embarrassed him that he stayed underwater for as long as he could possibly hold his breath. Nevertheless, when Bill graduated from CNC the following summer, he and Joy were married at Joy’s home church, St. Elmo Baptist in Chattanooga, on July 3, 1954. For the next fifteen years, they lived in Chattanooga, where their two children were born and where, after a first job selling shoes at J. C. Penny’s, Bill entered an officer training program at American National Bank and became the first manager of the Lookout Valley branch.

In 1969, Joy and Bill moved to Jefferson City, Tennessee, for Bill to become Director of Development at his alma mater, where, among other initiatives, he co-founded The Eagle Club to raise money to fund athletic scholarships. From 1974-1989 he was the Founding President and CEO of First Peoples Bank of Jefferson County, a bank which was, indeed, a “first” in many ways, including: first bank in the county with a large local ownership of over 500 stockholders; first bank in the county to loan money to women without their husbands as co-signers; first bank in the county to hire African-American employees in professional roles; first bank in the county to make student loans and first bank in Tennessee to make Small Business Administration industrial loans. From 1989-2010, Bill worked in real estate, securities, and insurance sales, mostly through the joint ownership of the Powell Price Financial Group and the Cate Insurance Agency.

Bill was devoted to his community and served in numerous civic roles, including: organizer and first full-term President of Jefferson City Rotary Club; Charter Board Member of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce; Member and Vice-Chair of Jefferson County School Board; Deacon and active member of numerous committees at First Baptist Church; and member of the Carson-Newman College Board of Trustees for 18 years. Perhaps Bill’s happiest community roles were as the longtime radio announcer for the Jefferson County Patriots football games and as the “Voice of the Eagles” for Carson-Newman.

Bill delighted in spending time with his grandchildren, all of whom adored their Granddaddy. After retirement, Bill and Joy enjoyed travel and were adventurous enough to move north to Oberlin, Ohio, in 2012, to be near their daughter and her family.

Bill was preceded in death by his “Joyful,” his wife of 69 years, and by his beloved sister Pat Powell Peek. Bill loved and is beloved by his children, Lynn Powell (Dan Stinebring) and Bill IV (Amy Powell); five grandchildren, Anna-Claire Stinebring (Adam Popp), Ida Powell (Ahmed Ibrahim), Will Powell (Katie Knapp), Jesse Stinebring (Zaib Rasool), and Stewart Powell; eight great-grandchildren, Lillian, Madeline, and Poppy Powell, Hoda, Mona, and Seliem Ibrahim, Zora Rasool Stinebring, and Madeleine Roxy Popp; sister Jane Howard (Charles); cousin Greg Parman (Jan); chosen family Boyce Green and Thomas Zgambo; and numerous other cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends both far and near.

The family is grateful for the attentive, loving care given to Bill by the aides and nurses of the Reflections Community at Rose Senior Living in Avon, Ohio, for nearly two years, and by the aides and nurses of Affinity Hospice and Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin during the last months of his life.

The family will receive friends on Saturday morning, December 13, 2025 from 10:00 until 11:30 a.m. at Farrar Funeral Home in Jefferson City. Bill’s homegoing service will begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by a private burial in Jefferson Memorial Gardens. Those who might want to give memorial gifts are encouraged to consider The Margaret Ferguson Scholarship Fund (named after Bill’s aunt who worked as a nurse on horseback with the Frontier Nursing Service) or the Appalachian Ministries of the Smokies, both at Carson-Newman University. Friends in Ohio might consider Oberlin Community Services or Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio.

Arrangements by Farrar Funeral Home in Jefferson City, TN