Ted Haselton

Frederick R. Haselton, CMDR USN, (Retired) passed away Wednesday, May 9th at his home in Cookeville, TN. Known to his family and friends as Ted, he leaves behind a legacy of a life lived to its fullest and an assortment of stories both famous and infamous. Ted was born in Greenville, South Carolina on August 1, 1923 to his parents Helen and Frederick R. Haselton and traveled widely from an early age, living everywhere from New York to California before retiring in Tennessee. He graduated from the first class out of Hillsborough High School in Nashville, TN and then attended the Naval Academy where he trained to be an officer, ultimately achieving the rank of Commander aboard the submarine USS PomPon. Life with the Navy took him all over the world, both underwater and overland and added substantially to his penchant for storytelling, inventiveness and leadership, traits which he brought to every one of his later pursuits. Ted had an engineer's incredible ability to see into the inner workings of things- whether they were machines, vehicles, or people- which led him to invent and patent everything from specialized glasses to human-powered submarines (27 patents in all) and to leave behind an equally rich legacy of elaborately planned pranks. Stateside, he worked for the Office of Naval Research and enjoyed 72 years of marriage with his loving wife Rosemary with whom he raised a family of three children and seven grandchildren. He and Rosemary had a rich life together which they filled with their hobbies of square dancing, international travel and volunteering locally. He was also deeply involved in the early development of Camp Country Ladd and a long-time member of First Presbyterian Church in Cookeville, TN. Ted was a rare man who wore the roles of son, brother, husband, father and grandfather with great care and great style and was always quick with a joke and quick to listen. He is survived by his children Rick, Tom and Polly, their seven children and a loving family of cousins and brothers-in-arms stretched out across many oceans. Services will be held at Hooper, Huddleston and Horner Funeral Home on Thursday, May 17th at 1 p.m. with a visitation for family and friends from noon until service time. In lieu of flowers, a donation is requested to WCTE-TV, P.O. Box 2040, Cookeville, TN 38502.