Heiskell, Knox County and all of East Tennessee lost a friend and wonderful doctor on December 29, 2025. His daughter-in-law, Caitlin Chase-Rhyne, wrote the tribute below. It’s spot on. His full obituary is here.
Tribute by Caitlin Chase-Rhyne
December 30, 2025
We lost my father-in-law, Dr. M.W. Rhyne, on Monday.
M. W. Rhyne O.D.
To know Dr. Rhyne was to know the embodiment of hard work. He was nearly always up before the sun and worked until his head hit the pillow each night. As an optometrist, he restored functional vision to countless patients. He treated infants and toddlers to those in their nineties. So many people in Tennessee and beyond get to enjoy reading, playing their favorite sport and gazing into the eyes of their loved ones because their lives were touched by Dr. Rhyne.
Some of our best conversations related to our shared passion for gardening. Dr. Rhyne had the greenest of thumbs and coaxed every manner of vegetable and flower from the ground, including dahlias the size of your face. He had more gardening knowledge and know-how than you could ever possibly hope to fit in a book.
He was a gentleman farmer who loved his cattle and chickens dearly. He worked the land and tended his animals with an uncommon dedication.
He was a connoisseur of Southern cuisine and a very talented baker. No one went hungry in Dr. Rhyne’s presence. He made my birthday cake this year, and though I never heard him utter a curse word he’d surely forgive me for saying that caramel cake was damn good. One of the greatest compliments he could give you was to say he enjoyed your cooking. It’s with no small amount of pride that I get to say I earned that a time or two.
He was an avid collector of southern colloquialisms. (If anyone knows what “narrow between the eyes like a midnight opossum” means, I’d still like to know.)
Dr. Rhyne could keep you entertained for hours with stories of his childhood and life in Bull Run Valley. Far and away one of my favorites was the tale of the manhunt of Clarence Raby. If you’re unfamiliar, you should look it up. It’s straight out of a Cormac McCarthy novel.
He was proudly a lifelong resident of Heiskell, Tennessee. I remain convinced to this day that he could rattle off the complete genealogy of half the inhabitants of Knox County born in the last 100 years.
He was a loving father and husband and a friend to many. His loss is being felt deeply and keenly by his family, friends and patients.
Dr. Rhyne was not always a simple man, but he was a good one. He gave me my best friend in the entire world in Seth, and I will never ever stop being grateful or loving him for that. His practice is the place Seth and I met and we now get to build our life together.
It feels like this season has been one of loss and heartbreak for many of my family and friends. Life is both too short and too long for words left unsaid. Hug your loved ones and tell them what they mean to you.
