James Wesley Sewell

6/14/1935 – 12/19/2024

James (Jim) passed away peacefully on December 19, 2024. He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on June 14, 1935.

He proudly graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1957 with a degree in Industrial Engineering. Upon graduation, he completed Officer Candidate School and served four years active duty in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, Jim toured the world on the destroyer USS Shields and while stationed in San Diego, California he met the love of his life, Anne Sunkel.

Jim and Anne married in 1960 and would go on to spend nearly 65 years together. They began a life crisscrossing the country (San Diego, Fairfax, VA, Huntington Beach, CA, Houston, TX, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, and back to Houston). Jim spent his career in manufacturing and the oil field drilling equipment industry and while in Houston received his Masters in business from The University of Houston.

Other than family, there was nothing Jim loved more than his Porsches. His lifelong hobby focused on older 911’s but achieved a work of art through piecing together and perfecting a 1955 Speedster. He was a proud, lifelong member of the Porsche Club of America, where he rallied, raced and volunteered over many decades.

Following 25 years in Houston raising their kids, Jim and Anne retired first to the hill country in New Ulm, TX and then settled for good in Franklin TN, ending up in the state where his parents had lived. Always up for a road trip, Jim loved to travel, golf and even float the river in Texas.

Jim is preceded in death by his parents, Marion Columbus and Alba Sewell.

He is survived by his wife, Anne, and his two children: daughter, Pamela Macpherson and husband Tom Macpherson and son, Brian Sewell and wife Laura Sewell. He is also survived by his beautiful grandchildren, Rachel Sewell, Catherine Sewell, Megan Macpherson, John Sewell, and Sam Macpherson.

A memorial service will be held at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN at 2:00 o’clock on February 22, 2025. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Tennessee Baptist Childrens Home PO Box 2206, Brentwood TN 37024; www.tennesseechildren.org

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”