James Dale Hoskins, 75, of Cleveland, TN, died at his home on Wednesday April 16, 2014.
He graduated from Baylor in 1957. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He was a member of the Cleveland Jaycees and past president of the Cleveland Board of Realtors in the late 1970s. He was a member of the Broad Street United Methodist Church, where he was a former Sunday school teacher.
Jim was the son of Carl J. Hoskins and Hazel Hambright Hoskins. He was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky and grew up in Harlan, Kentucky until 1950, when the family moved to Cleveland to be closer to his mother’s family. He maintained close friendships from his childhood and regularly met with a group from his kindergarten class. He was the President of Southern Housing Management, a property management company he started with his father in the early 1970s. Together they developed several properties in Cleveland and the company now manages properties in Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky. With Eddie Botts, he also founded Hoskins and Botts Realty.
Jim was an avid collector and painter of toy soldiers and regularly participated in shows nationwide. He enjoyed many close friendships with other collectors, who will remember him for his wry sense of humor, his attention to detail and his appreciation of a good story. He owned antique MGs through the years, which he took to shows throughout the South. His family cherished him for his love, his loyalty, his fried chicken, his bow ties, his gifts for drawing and writing and his memorable birthday cards.
He was preceded in death by his son, Bryan Hoskins of Nashville.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Elizabeth “Gaby” Hoskins; a daughter in law, Dean Dorsey Hoskins of Nashville; two daughters, Jami Moss Wise of Atlanta and Jennifer Moss Cleveland of Nashville, and their husbands, Fred Wise and Albert Cleveland; and three granddaughters, Dorsey Kate Hoskins, Hattie McAndrew Hoskins and Grace Elizabeth Cleveland, all of Nashville.
A Remembrance of Life Service will be held at noon on Monday, April 21, at the North Ocoee St. Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Homes with Reverend Fred Wise of Atlanta officiating. Interment will follow in the Hilcrest Cemetery with Eddie Botts, Albert Cleveland, Hubert Conley, Steve Keown, Landon Meier and Joe Stamper serving as casket bearers.
The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until service time at the Jim Rush Funeral Home, who has charge of the arrangements.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Flint Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 501 Flint Springs Rd., Cleveland TN., 37323 or The Caring Place, 130 Wildwood Ave., Cleveland TN., 37311.