Funeral Arrangements Set for Longtime ERHS Band Director Perry Vandergriff

Photo by Larry Sewell _ Perry Vandergriff leads the East Ridge High School band onto the field during a football game. The long-time band director passed away on Saturday.

Perry D. Vandergriff, 56, the longtime band director at East Ridge High School, has passed away.

According to Facebook postings by his family, Vandergriff suffered a heart attack and died on Saturday.

The post on Facebook said the man affectionately known as “Vandy,” touched many lives through his band work at the school.

He graduated from Tyner High and went on to get a bachelor’s degree of Music Education from the University of Tennessee, where he was a member of the Pride of the Southland Marching Band.

Vandergriff also served as band director at Notre Dame and Northwest Whitfield High Schools in his long career of teaching.

He leaves behind his wife of 36 years, Dianne, a daughter, McCaull and son, Jon-Michael.

Visitation will be held on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Bethel Assembly of God, 6613 Hixson Pike. The funeral service will follow at 6 p.m.

Arrangements are by Legacy Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 8911 Dallas Hollow Road, Soddy Daisy, 423 843-2525.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.