Robert Brooks Fitts

View Video Tribute View Funeral Webcast Robert Brooks Fitts, 45, son, brother, father, and friend, died quietly at his residence in Spring Hill, Tennessee on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 following an eight-year journey living with the effects of a massive stroke. Visitation with the family will begin Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols in Columbia concluding the funeral service at 2:00 p.m. with the Rev. Richard Zalesak officiating. Immediately following the service, all are invited to join the family at a gathering in the Parish Hall of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Honorary pallbearers are Steve Cox, Todd Ward, Frank Bechet, Zan Bunn, and members of "Robert's Rogues." A private family interment service will be at Rose Hill Cemetery with the Rev. Rob Courtney officiating. Robert requested memorials to the Brain Injury Association of Tennessee, 955 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206; Nashville Rescue Mission, 1716 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37208, or the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, 1446 Oak Springs Dr, Columbia, TN 38401, along with any written memories of Robert to be shared with his boys. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. Born July 6, 1966, in Tripoli, Libya, Robert was reared overseas in North Africa, England, and Scotland before returning to Oklahoma during his high school years. He was a 1985 graduate of Putnam City North High School, Oklahoma City and a 1990 graduate of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Robert enjoyed politics, having served as College Chair of the College Republicans and having attended two national conventions as a state delegate while in Oklahoma. Following graduation from OSU, Robert moved to Spring Hill, Tennessee to pursue a childhood passion for the stock market as his vocation; working first for H. L. Camp in Nashville and then for Edward Jones in Cary, North Carolina. A grade school teacher remembers that when he was only ten years old she knew who would come in and get THE WALL STREET JOURNAL off of her desk to read. He loved his work and considered his clients to be friends, even visiting with some of them several years after his stroke. Robert also loved to travel and would often share that he had been to 27 countries, enjoying especially the Caribbean. Most recently he had been in Colorado and was planning trips to Alaska and London. Robert was a Christian whose faith was an integral part of his journey, both before and especially after his stroke. Throughout the challenges brought on by his stroke, he continued to believe in a God of miracles and that God had a plan for him. He also continued to serve God by sharing his story and faith as a stroke hero through the Brain Injury Association of Tennessee support groups, working with physical therapy classes at Belmont University and volunteering at the Nashville Rescue Mission with his friends known as "Robert's Rogues." Most importantly to him, he was father to Andrew and Brooks. He loved being their father and nothing could bring a smile to his face as quickly as talking with them or watching them enjoy their activities. He often said when asked about his goals in therapy that he wanted to play basketball with his boys, to teach them how to drive, to see them graduate high school, and to travel with them. A communicant of Grace Episcopal Church in Spring Hill, he was previously active with Covenant Church International in Raleigh, North Carolina. A descendant of pioneer settlers in Maury County, Robert was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Millard and Mary Polk Mitchum of Spring Hill, Tennessee and paternal grandparents, Emmett and Marguerite Dutcher Fitts of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is survived by his parents, William and Alice Ann Mitchum Fitts; sister, Alicia Fitts; and brother, Stephen Fitts, all of Spring Hill, Tennessee; sons, Andrew Powell Fitts and Brooks Mitchum Fitts of Raleigh, North Carolina; and uncle, Millard "Bud" Mitchum, Jr. of Spring Hill, Tennessee. He is also survived by many members of a larger, loving family of Mitchum, Campbell, and Dutcher cousins, including godfather, Jere Mitchum of Cookeville, Tennessee and Betsy Hurd Bourner Butler of Huntsville, Alabama, along with special friends of the "Stupid Stinky Sheep Society," and "Robert's Rogues." We are grateful to all who have supported Robert and our family on his journey and especially to the many individuals who provided Robert with care over the past eight years, including Bob Lowery, Ani Palcon, J. W. Gray, Brenda Foster, Thersia Caswell, Hyla Kipp, Sherry Pauley, and Scott Hawes; and friends, Vicki Hooper and Katie Martin, along with his gifted and supportive group of doctors at Vanderbilt, the Shepherd Center, University Hospital of Pennyslvania, and numerous physical and occupational therapists. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13.