Ryan VanAmburg Elliott, 43, a resident of Columbia, Tennessee, died Thursday, September 24, 2026, in Columbia.
Funeral services will be conducted Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 11:00 A.M. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home 320 West 7th Street Columbia, TN 38401. The family will visit with friends on Saturday from 10:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. at Oakes & Nichols. Following the service, his body will be conveyed to Vinyard Funeral Home in Festus, Missouri, where burial will follow in Rose Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Crystal City, Missouri. Online condolences may be extended at www.oakesandnichols.com.
Ryan was born August 7, 1983, in Houston, Texas, to Brenda Vessell Elliott and John Glenn Elliott III. He was a 2002 graduate of Parkway South High School in Manchester, Missouri, and played football at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He was an avid football fan, and his favorite team was the Green Bay Packers.
Ryan was a butcher by trade and worked for several grocery retailers throughout his life. For a significant portion of his career, he was assistant meat manager at Whole Foods in Franklin, Tennessee, where he developed important friendships.
Ryan was involved in the local recovery community, where he built meaningful relationships and continued seeking recovery through both victories and struggles. Ryan’s story cannot be reduced to the hardest chapters of his life. He was kind, gentle, deeply loved, and, as his faith and recovery communities know well, he was a man who kept reaching for hope, grace, and a way back to himself.
In recent years, Ryan rededicated his life to Christ and was once again baptized. His favorite bible verse that he often referenced was Jeremiah 29:11 which says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We find comfort in knowing that Ryan is now healed and whole in the presence of Jesus. The hope and future he so often read about are now his forever, and his eternity is secure in the love of his Savior.
Ryan is survived by his mother, Brenda Vessell Elliott of Franklin; his father, John Glenn Elliott III of Highland, Illinois; his aunts and uncles, Jerry and Rhonda Vessell of Brentwood, Tennessee, and Debby and Greg Martin of Saint Louis, Missouri; and his cousins and their spouses, Savannah and Mitchell Dunn of Atlanta, Georgia, and Stephanie and Scott Ortell of Chicago, Illinois.
