Obituary of Paul "Marvin" Padgett

Local Funeral Director and former Cumberland County Freeholder, P. Marvin Padgett, age 83, of Fairfield Township passed away on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 at Maurice House in Millville.

Born in Bybee, Tennessee in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, he was the son of farming parents, the late Hugh Padgett and Ruth Holt Padgett. As a young boy he knew both the beauty and the hardships of his time growing up in his mountain home, the cabin that he remembered so well along with other family that lived nearby whom he cherished throughout his life.

His family and others from their area of Eastern Tennessee came to Upper Deerfield Township as part of the huge migration of those looking to make a better life and provide for their families with the work that had become available at Seabrook Farms and Owens-Illinois.

Marvin had been a resident of the Upper Clarks Pond area of Fairfield Township for the past 54 years. He was a graduate of the Bridgeton High School Class of 1953. Following his graduation he married his late wife, Marjorie Dale Brooks whom he met in high school and went to work with the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company as a Lineman. He then made the decision to pursue a career in Funeral Service graduating from the McAllister Institute in New York City. He worked for a period at the Brooks West Side Funeral Home in Bridgeton and then at the Carll Funeral Home where he became a partner and later owner of what became the Carll-Padgett Funeral Homes in Bridgeton and Cedarville. When joined in the operation of the businesses by his son, the funeral homes then became what they are known as today as the Padgett Funeral Homes, now multi-generational with his grandchildren serving there as Directors as well as other family members and staff whom he also felt were his family.

Marvin tirelessly served as a Cumberland County Freeholder for four terms of office. He also served on the Board of the Cumberland County Utilities Authority for eight and a half years, three of which he was its Chairman and as Cumberland County Coroner, all of which he considered an honor. He strived to help those in need whenever he could in his service as both a Funeral Director and in office as a public servant. A “people person” he most of all cherished the friendships of all those he crossed paths with and had the honor of calling friend. His many deeds of charity through the years remain unmentioned but known by those whom he was able to help.

Surviving are his three children, Paul M. Padgett, Jr. (Denise) of Cedarville, Tracy Riland (Morris) of Milmay and Leslie Bateman (Stephen) of Fairfield Township; six grandchildren, Paul M. Padgett, III, Devon Padgett-Blew, Christopher Downey, Brooks Downey, Travis Riland and Ashley Padgett and three great-grandsons, William Blew IV, Silas Takeo Padgett and Cameron Downey and a brother, Ronald Padgett (Juanita) of Cedarville. In addition to his wife Marjorie and his parents, he was predeceased by a brother, Dale “Butch” Padgett.

Funeral services will be held at the PADGETT FUNERAL HOME, 1107 State Highway 77, Upper Deerfield Township on Saturday, February 9th at 12 Noon. Friends will be received at the funeral home from 8:30 to 11:30 AM prior to the services.  Graveside committal services will take place on Tuesday, February 12th at 1 PM at Liberty Hill Baptist Church Cemetery in Bybee, Tennessee, where the interment will folllow the services.  The family asks that contributions in Marvin’s memory be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 Written condolences can be sent to the family through the funeral home website at www.padgettfuneralhomes.com.