Changes

On October 16, 2014, while [[fishing]] with friends in [[Mississippi River]] delta, Pettit's boat capsized in shallow water. Though rescued several hours later by the [[United States Coast Guard]], Pettit sustained a cut on his leg and died five weeks later in Hammond, in Tangipahoa Parish in southeastern [[Louisiana]] of vibrio, a [[bacteria]]l infection common to coastal waters.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/22/3553604_former-lexington-mayor-h-foster.html?rh=1|title=Former Lexington mayor H. Foster Pettit dies at 84|author=Karla Wood|date=November 22, 2014|publisher=''Lexington Herald-Leader''|accessdate=July 8, 2015}}</ref>

On October 16, 2014, while [[fishing]] with friends in [[Mississippi River]] delta, Pettit's boat capsized in shallow water. Though rescued several hours later by the [[United States Coast Guard]], Pettit sustained a cut on his leg and died five weeks later in Hammond, in Tangipahoa Parish in southeastern [[Louisiana]] of vibrio, a [[bacteria]]l infection common to coastal waters.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/22/3553604_former-lexington-mayor-h-foster.html?rh=1|title=Former Lexington mayor H. Foster Pettit dies at 84|author=Karla Wood|date=November 22, 2014|publisher=''Lexington Herald-Leader''|accessdate=July 8, 2015}}</ref>

   

   

Pettit's wife of some twenty years, the former Carole Thomas (1943-2002),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Pettit&GSfn=Carole&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=19&GScnty=1022&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=44681492&df=all&|title=Carole Thomas Pettit|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=September 24, 2020}}</ref> a graduate of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, and [[Vanderbilt University]] in [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], was found dead at the age of fifty-nine in October 2002 in scenic Elkhorn Creek in Scott County, Kentucky. She was apparently trying to retrieve a canoe in high water, an accident somewhat similar to the fate of her husband twelve years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news-graphic.com/article_53376e2f-737b-564c-b51f-a5fa6c6c60a0.html|title=Woman found dead in creek|date=October 13, 2002|publisher=News-Graphic.com|accessdate=July 9, 2015}}</ref> Thereafter Pettit was married to Brenda Kraak (born c. 1940), formerly Brenda Cummings of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who has worked at the Henry Clay Foundation in Lexington.<ref name=obit/>

Pettit's wife of some twenty years, the former Carole Thomas (1943-2002),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Pettit&GSfn=Carole&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=19&GScnty=1022&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=44681492&df=all&|title=Carole Thomas Pettit|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=September 24, 2020}}</ref> a graduate of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, and [[Vanderbilt University]] in [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], was found dead at the age of fifty-nine in October 2002 in scenic Elkhorn Creek in Scott County, Kentucky. She was apparently trying to retrieve a canoe in high water, an accident somewhat similar to the fate of her husband twelve years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news-graphic.com/article_53376e2f-737b-564c-b51f-a5fa6c6c60a0.html|title=Woman found dead in creek|date=October 13, 2002|publisher=News-Graphic.com|accessdate=September 24, 2020}}</ref> Thereafter Pettit was married to Brenda Kraak (born c. 1940), formerly Brenda Cummings of [[Shreveport]], [[Louisiana]], who has worked at the Henry Clay Foundation in Lexington.<ref name=obit/>

Pettit had previously been married to the former Marion Hale Gregory (1931-2015),<ref name="Marion Graves obituary">{{cite web|title=Marion Graves obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kentucky/obituary.aspx?pid=174268583|website=Legacy.com}}</ref> daughter of former Kentucky [[U.S. Representative]] Noble Jones Gregory, with whom he had three surviving children: Noble Gregory Pettit, Van Meter Pettit and his wife, Linda Blackford, of Lexington, and Harrison Pettit, Jr., and wife Lisa Pearlstein of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]]; four step-children, Alison Byrd, Kurt Cummings, and Emily Lofton, all of Shreveport, and Courtney Caulfield of Mandeville, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Another son, Hale Pettit (1964-1998), predeceased his father. Pettit had five grandchildren and seven step-grandchildren.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=h-foster-pettit&pid=173528628|title=H. Foster Pettit|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=December 21, 2014|accessdate=September 24, 2020}}</ref>

Pettit had previously been married to the former Marion Hale Gregory (1931-2015),<ref name="Marion Graves obituary">{{cite web|title=Marion Graves obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kentucky/obituary.aspx?pid=174268583|website=Legacy.com}}</ref> daughter of former Kentucky [[U.S. Representative]] Noble Jones Gregory, with whom he had three surviving children: Noble Gregory Pettit, Van Meter Pettit and his wife, Linda Blackford, of Lexington, and Harrison Pettit, Jr., and wife Lisa Pearlstein of [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Oregon]]; four step-children, Alison Byrd, Kurt Cummings, and Emily Lofton, all of Shreveport, and Courtney Caulfield of Mandeville, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Another son, Hale Pettit (1964-1998), predeceased his father. Pettit had five grandchildren and seven step-grandchildren.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=h-foster-pettit&pid=173528628|title=H. Foster Pettit|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=December 21, 2014|accessdate=September 24, 2020}}</ref>