Williamson County Chamber: MEMORIAL BENCH AT BLOOD ASSURANCE HONORS LONGTIME BLOOD DONOR

Press release from Williamson County Chamber:

2021-09-30

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Max Winitz
maxwinitz@bloodassurance.org
(615) 772-6681

MEMORIAL BENCH AT BLOOD ASSURANCE HONORS LONGTIME BLOOD DONOR

TULLAHOMA, Tenn. (Sept. 30, 2021) – A longtime blood donor is being remembered at a place he considered his second home.

Bob Pepper, 69, of Tullahoma, died earlier this year after a bout with COVID-19.

“It just didn’t seem possible. We called it our nightmare,” said Bob’s wife, Joan Pepper.

Bob was well-known at Blood Assurance’s donation center on N. Jackson St. in Tullahoma. From 2005-2020, he donated blood a whopping 61 times and collected more than 50 t-shirts given to individuals who donated. He kept every shirt and would wear them often. At his celebration of life ceremony last June, each shirt was placed on a hanger and displayed.

“He was amazing and very dedicated to it. He would tell me that while it only hurts a little bit (to give blood), to just think of all the people we are helping who are in so much more pain,” Joan said.

Wendy Sears, the team leader at Blood Assurance’s Tullahoma facility, developed a close friendship with Bob since he visited multiple times a year to donate the lifesaving fluid.

“He was just a wonderful person. I can’t explain to you how wonderful he was. If you are going to call someone a hero, he would definitely fall under that,” Sears said.

To honor Bob’s legacy at Blood Assurance, a custom memorial bench built by family friend, Jim Horvath, now sits near the entrance to the donor center.

“The kids and I talked about wanting to go ahead and do something special in honor of Bob. We thought a bench would be great. We were trying to decide the exact place we wanted to have it in his memory and of course Blood Assurance is what we thought of,” Joan said.

The family hopes the bench will inspire others to take a few minutes out of their day to give back, just like the dozens of times Bob did over the last 15 years.

To connect with the Pepper family, please contact Max Winitz at the email address or phone number listed above.

This press release was produced by Williamson County Chamber. The views expressed here are the author’s own.