About Me
As a candidate for the County Mayor/Executive position, I am committed to bringing positive change and progress to our county. I have dedicated my entire life to public service. I've served on the Overton County Board of Commissioners for 24 years. I retired with 35 years of service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. My last year, I volunteered for deployment to Al Anbar Iraq on a 400-day mission serving as Environmental Advisor performing burn pit mitigation and HAZMAT disposal stationed in theater at Ayn al Asad Airbase. I served central Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait as part of the "Combined Joint Task Force" for "Operation Inherent Resolve" as a civilian team member with the DoD in the Trans-Atlantic Expeditionary District. With a strong dedication to transparency and accountability, over the years, I have addressed many pressing issues that our community and nation have faced. I performed these duties with loyalty, dedication, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. As your County Executive, I will continue to use these guiding principles as a strong foundation to lead our county the next 4 years. My vision is to create a county that thrives economically, socially, and environmentally for each and every one alike. Join me in this journey towards a better future for our county.
How My Values Were Formed
Being born and raised in Overton County, I have traced roots back as far to my great great grandparents who lived in the Willow Grove Area on the Obey River. I recently discovered the existing graves where they were relocated in the late '30s early '40s during construction of Dale Hollow Dam. My Grandad served in the Army during WWI in France as part of the Ypres-Lys defensive sector. He was a farmer/trader who lived in the Hilham area on Flatt Creek. My father was born in Hilham during his father's deployment across the waters. My grandfather succumbed to illness sixteen years later from complication of exposure to mustard gas suffering lung trauma while fighting in France. The responsibility for my father to maintain the farm and help raise his two younger brothers and support my grandmother came at an early age.
Both of my parents grew up during the Great Depression. Dad's education only extended to the 8th grade in a one room schoolhouse called Buffalo Hill that was located on the farm where I currently reside. My Father was drafted in 1941 for WWII and served with the US Army 34th Engineer Combat Regiment in Hawaii after the Japanese bombing of Peal Harbor. After the war, he ventured north to Indiana to seek work as most did in those days. This is where he met my mother and were married. Nine years later they moved back home to Tennessee and raised their children. I am the youngest of four who are referred as the "Baby Boom" generation. I preface all this to characterize how we were raised and what shaped my core values. Dad retired years later as a brick mason at Tennessee Tech and my mother worked her whole life at the local shirt factory until it closed. We were raised modestly where it took both of my parents' wages to support a family, along with the necessity of gardening, canning and trading to provide any extra savings. By their example, we were all fostered with diligence, hard work, honesty and clean living. My father also instilled in us children the value of achieving advanced education and the importance of going to college. This is primarily because he wasn't afforded that opportunity during the depression era when he was growing up and he wanted better means for his children.
This describes the core of my background and heritage which was not much different from most of this era and my age. I'm extremely proud of my parents and how I was raised. This is why I feel it important to reveal what shaped my values and a give a sense of where I come from.
I value God, Family, Community, Nation, and cherish our Freedom. Overton County is my home and heritage. I have always fought hard for the citizens to have a voice and to be able to grow up in a safe, healthy, and prosperous environment. My goal as a leader and steward of our hard-earned tax dollars for the next four years is to maintain quality of life and a sense of safety to provide and preserve a healthy, thriving affordable community for our children, families, our elderly and all citizens alike. We need to ensure that this is a place where we all have the chance to excel, participate, and hopefully retire where we all are proud to call Overton County home.
