Horace (Bud) Argyle Teass Jr., beloved husband of Ruth Garnette Saunders, passed away in Natural Bridge on December 3, 2018 at the age of 82.
He was born on June 20, 1936 in New York, N.Y., to Horace Argyle Teass Sr. and Lettie Louise Whitt.
He grew up in Bronxville, N.Y., and graduated in 1955 from Bronxville High School. In the fall of that year, he started at Parson School of Design, where he pursued an interest in fine arts. Later, he transferred to Columbia University, where he received a joint degree in history and mathematics in 1961.
Immediately upon graduation, he enlisted in the United States Navy and entered the Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I. Upon receiving his commission as Lieutenant Junior Grade in 1963, he was stationed in Norfolk, serving as a communications officer aboard the USS Cambria until 1964. His tour in the Navy took him throughout the Mediterranean, with the Cambria acting as the Flagship of the Amphibious Striking Force of the Sixth Fleet, and later in the South Atlantic in connection with the Cuban Missile Crisis. He qualified as Officer of the Deck Underway and was awarded medals for U.S. Exploratory and Armed Service in Cyprus and Cuba.
While in Norfolk, he met and later married Jean E. Widener on September 13, 1963, but later divorced.
After his service, he studied law and received a juris doctor from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1967. He served as the magister of the Jefferson Inn of Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity. He returned to New York City to practice law with his father and was admitted to the New York bar in 1969. He married his second wife, Ruth Garnette Saunders, on May 12, 1973 in Chase City.
His association with McNab Inc., a manufacturer of precision instrumentation for marine and industrial processes, began in 1955 as a series of summer jobs. Ultimately, he rose to become president and chairman of the board. During his time at McNab, he was awarded at least 14 patents, published numerous technical papers and frequently spoke at industry conferences. In 2009, he and his wife relocated to Natural Bridge and moved the business to nearby Buena Vista.
Bud was an avid and lifelong amateur radio enthusiast (call sign W2SLC). He also embraced the role of gentlemen farmer with farmland and livestock, both in Armonk, N.Y., and Natural Bridge. He was dedicated to genealogy, and traced family roots back to origins in Europe. Travel was another passion, and he visited numerous countries on five of the seven continents. In 2018, he led three generations on a family heritage trip to Teasses in Fife County, Scotland, where the Teass name originates.
He was preceded in death by his father, Horace, and his mother, Lettie, his first wife, Jean (nee Widener) and son, Thomas Neavil.
He is survived by his second wife, Ruth Garnette, and children, Sarah Vanderberry Teass, William Garner Teass, Ann Carter (nee Hubbard), and Gwynne Whitaker Teass, and eight grandchildren, Henry Teass Hubbard, Austen Walker Teass, Rosemary Ruth Teass, Margaret Claiborne Hubbard, Fletcher Teass Simmons, Catherine Carter Hubbard, Cole Dixon Teass and Keaton Whitaker Simmons, and sister, Nancy Burke (nee James), nephew Stuart Woodward James and niece, Payton Leigh (nee Amberg), as well as numerous cousins.
A memorial service is planned at High Bridge Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 8. His cremated remains will be interred at the Middle Patent Rural Cemetery in Bedford, N.Y., at a later date.
Donations may be made to the Friends of New London Society, P. O. Box 777, Bedford, VA 24523. The Society is dedicated to local historical and genealogical research, a subject close to Bud's heart. Some of the original settlers of the New London area were ancestors of the current Teass family. Bud and Garnette recently purchased and then donated a historic church structure to serve as the permanent home of the Society.
Arrangements are by Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory.
