Dr. Horace "Hap" William Crater of LaVergne, Tennessee, died peacefully Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at the age of 75. He was a distinguished physicist who published over 50 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals; a loving father who enjoyed watching his sons' baseball games; and an amateur power lifter who took home trophies in dozens of competitions in the southeast. Hap was a member of the Unity Church of Life in Murfreesboro.

He was born May 26, 1942 to Walter and Flora (Trimmer) Crater in Washington, D.C. and grew up in neighboring Falls Church, Virginia. After graduating from McLean High School in 1960, he attended the College of William & Mary where he graduated with High Honors in Physics, earning membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society. It was at William & Mary where he met Frances Mae Kubitz and they married in 1963. Hap went on to attain his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at Yale University, graduating second in the class of 1968. He completed two years of postdoctoral work at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University in 1970.

After serving five years as Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University, he moved on to the University of Tennessee Space Institute, where he taught advance quantum mechanics, and other graduate level courses for 40 years, attaining the rank of Professor Emeritus.

Hap is survived by his wife, Frances of 54 years; sons John Crater of Madison, Tennessee and Paul Crater of Atlanta, Georgia; siblings Walter Crater Jr. of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and Vivian Gray of Hockessin, Delaware; grandchildren Anthony, Joseph, Jacob, and Emma, as well as many loving nephews, nieces and extended family.

A funeral service will be held Monday, October 30 at 1:00 pm at Preddy Funeral Home in Orange, Virginia. Hap will be laid to rest in the cemetery at the family property known as Wild Beauty in Orange.

In lieu of flowers Hap desired that a donation be made to the Yale Graduate School Alumni Fund, Yale University, P.O. Box 1890, New Haven, CT 06508-1890.

An online guestbook is available for Dr. Crater at www,woodfinchapel.com.