|
Weather |
|
|
|
Local
News |
|
|
|
___________
|
|
___________
AD RATES
___________
|
|
|
|
National
News |
|
|
|
FEATURE FOR
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2002
 |
Dale Kelley: A Man of Many Talents |
|
| |
|
Dale Kelley: Statesman, Businessman,
Athlete
|
In the centuries-old debate as to whether great men are
born or made, one thing is certain: Dale Kelley was born,
and made, in Carroll County. His first home was a log
house in the rural community of Buxter to the south of
Huntingdon, where he has spent most of his ensuing years.
Growing up, he was the middle child - between older
brother James and little brother Dwayne - of Ruth Helen
White and William Jesse Kelley. Dale's father broke the
tradition of his farming grandparents, working during
World War II at the newly constructed Milan Arsenal, in
1947 moving to the Public Shirt Company in Huntingdon
where he worked until his retirement. His mother also
worked at Public Shirt and at the hospital for a time.
"We were like most families and kids in the years when I
grew up in the '40's and '50's," he says, "They were great
years; they were fun years growing up."
He experienced both Huntingdon's public school system and
the one and two-room schoolhouses common to rural
communities of the era. He attended first, fourth and
fifth grades in the tiny rural schools and the Huntingdon
School System for second and third grades. From the sixth
grade through graduation, he was a student of the
Huntingdon Special School District.
The highlight of youth for Kelley was sports. "I really
liked sports," he says, "I got involved in Little League
baseball and played Little League ball in the first years
it started when I was an 11 year old kid."
As a high school student, he was a member of the
basketball and baseball teams for his alma mater, where
the seeds were also sewn for his love of the performing
arts.
"I enjoyed the senior play," he smiles, "Dixie Carter was
in my class and we were all in the senior play together -
all our other friends that were in our class - it was a
fun time."
Upon graduation, uncertain plans for the future were
compounded by the financial impossibility of attending
college. He joined the Air Force, a decision that gave him
firm footing for the future.
"Those four years in the Air Force were a great experience
and I grew up a lot in those four years," he shares. "It
gave me an opportunity to think about what I wanted to do
- I certainly wanted to go to college - and it also helped
me as an athlete to get basketball and baseball
scholarships at Bethel College."
From an all-star player on the MacDill Air Force Base
team, Kelley began his college career with coaching in
mind. When he was asked to officiate a game as referee
during his freshman year, however, he made decisions that
would influence the rest of his life, changing his major
to business with a minor in economics while lettering in
both baseball and basketball, displaying an athletic
prowess that eventually earned him recognition in the
Bethel College Athletic Hall of Fame.
In September 1964, Kelley met Carlene Tullos, a beautiful
young woman who had moved to Huntingdon after graduation
from Mississippi College. In her position with the West
Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service, she worked with
4-H clubs and home demonstrations throughout the county.
Both Carlene and Dale attended church services at the
First Baptist Church in Huntingdon, where they met.
"I was single, she was single and we had a lot of
matchmakers," Kelley grins. The couple married a year
later in September 1965.
Kelley graduated the following year, after just three
years at the college, and was employed by the Bank of
Huntingdon, during his senior year, as a loan officer
trainee. He worked there for six months before Republican
Congressional candidate Julius Hurst asked him to serve as
his campaign manager.
"Unfortunately he lost in November by a few votes," says
Kelley, who had nevertheless sampled the dynamics of the
political arena and found them to his liking.
He worked with Mobile Oil's Agricultural Division over
eight counties in Northwest Tennessee over the next three
years, then ran for his first public office in 1970. By
this time, he and Carlene were the parents of
almost-two-year-old Amanda and 4-month-old Meredith and
Carlene had left her job to be a full-time mother and
"keep the home fires burning," as she says.
Kelley sought and won the Republican nomination for the
office of Carroll County Assessor of Property, introducing
himself to executive committee members by letter in which
he stated, "It is with an awareness of the problems of
Carroll County and an interest in the people of our county
that I seek this position."
The statement reflected a quality of his character that
had been ripening within him since the days of his youth.
"One of the things growing up that I used to take notice
of was people who served the community," he says, "I held
those people in very high esteem and it has been a
motivating factor to me over the years."
At the "ripe old age of 29", Kelley says, he was
"fortunate enough" to win the general election and assume
the four-year term as Carroll County Assessor of Property.
During this time period, he also served as President of
the Huntingdon Chamber of Commerce, maintained his
officiating duties, and served as the area campaign
manager for Lamar Alexander, in addition to adding another
child, Cliff, to the family.
As his term of service neared its end, Kelley did not
neglect to thank those responsible for his chance to
serve. In another letter to the Republican Executive
Committee members, he expressed his gratitude and vowed to
continue his efforts for the people of Carroll County and
the GOP, encouraging others to "work a little harder this
year" toward common goals.
That his dedication, rather than lapsing at the end of his
term, remained strong and looked toward the future is part
and parcel of his character and vision.
Says his wife, "He is such a visionary person and so
optimistic. He looks to the future and looks on the bright
side of things."
Kelley joined the insurance firm of Maddox and Chance,
which then became Maddox, Chance and Kelly, where he
remained for 18 years. During those years, Kelley
exercised his civic responsibility in many different
elective offices, serving on the Huntingdon Special School
District Board of Education, Huntingdon Town Council, and
three terms, beginning in 1978, with the Tennessee
Legislature.
During Lamar Alexander's reign as governor from 1979 to
1987, Kelley was appointed Commissioner of Employment
Security and later elevated to Commissioner of
Transportation for the State, a position in which he
served throughout the remaining portion of the governor's
term of office.
Upon his return to his hometown of Huntingdon, Kelley was
appointed to fill an unexpired term as a county
commissioner and was later elected to the seat for an
additional four years.
During his tenure on the commission, Kelley campaigned
successfully for the position of Mayor of the Town of
Huntingdon, a role he has maintained over three terms, now
beginning his 11th year in office, while also working as a
partner in K & K Real Estate in Huntingdon.
Kelley says he is "proud to have been involved in some
pretty big endeavors" at the state level, such as
education reform while a member of the House of
Representatives and helping build a 3.2 billion dollar
road program as Commissioner of Transportation, but one
questions whether even these grand achievements can
compare to the gradual blossoming of his own hometown.
If the years have been sweet for Kelley, they have been
multiplied roughly 5,000 times over for the Town of
Huntingdon, based on the approximate population of the
town, whose citizens have reaped in abundance the fruits
of the mayor's efforts. Barely recognizable from previous
years, the town is a cornucopia of picturesque
functionality and enhanced services that promote an
uncommon pride that flows from every member of city
government throughout the people of the town and into the
surrounding county.
Just a few points of pride realized or enhanced during
Mayor Kelley's tenure are the town's system of beautifully
landscaped parks, the Carroll County War Memorial, the
Dale Kelley Sports Complex, the budding Dixie Carter
Performing Arts Center, and the downtown renovation
program.
"Downtown renovation - giving the town an appearance that
makes a lasting impression on people who visit - is very
important," says the growth-minded mayor, "It helps
attract new business and industry."
Added to these aesthetic and health-minded ventures are
accomplishments more directly geared toward the attraction
of new business, such as the recent $24 million dollar
expansion of the Norandal Plant, progress made toward the
realization of a new 977-acre lake in Carroll County,
which, Kelley says "will make all the difference in the
world to Carroll County," and a road program "that will be
dramatic over the next 10-15 years."
"These are important projects that are going to give
Huntingdon and Carroll County a distinction very few small
communities can claim," the mayor says with an edge of
excitement. "Those kinds of things create a domino effect
in making other things happen, like Behlen (Manufacturing
Company) coming... The foundation we lay today in our
infrastructure - things like water, sewer, police
protection, excellent schools, a fine hospital, strong
churches, and a cooperative spirit among elected officials
- all those things and others are what new business and
industry look for in a community and I think we measure
up.
Carroll County's location, strategically positioned near
Jackson and halfway between Nashville and Memphis, along
with a first class airport, are other points that
contribute to Mayor Kelley's bright view of the future,
which all boils down to a proactive stance to change.
"Change is inevitable whether we change through our own
initiative or whether we stand by and watch it change, and
it does," says Mayor Kelley. "When we have a strategic
plan in place for changing our community and watch it grow
and proper, that is the right way for change to take
place."
Always an athlete and sports fan, Kelley has for 18 years
been coordinator of men's basketball officials for five
division conferences: Big 12, Conference USA, Sunbelt, WAC
and Southland.
He has officiated 20 years of ballgames with 14 of those
in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and was "privileged"
to work nine consecutive NCAA playoffs, selected three
times for the final four.
"The thing I can say about officiating and politics is
that they really go hand in hand," he says, "It's a people
business and a great opportunity to meet wonderful people
and make some great lifetime friends."
Mayor Kelley reveals, "It's a very humbling experience to
be involved in the things I've been involved in. I love to
see things happen, help make them happen, and I've been
blessed with some great people who have been very
supportive. I had an old friend, an official, tell me
years ago, 'The only thing you are going to have when you
leave this career are the good experiences that you've had
- all those memories - the friends that you made along the
way and what contribution you make to the game.'"
He pauses and considers the words that have undoubtedly
played countless times in his memory. "That was good
advice and certainly it has been true for me. Life has
been good, it really has. I've been so fortunate to be
involved in so many things and met so many great people in
the athletic world, political organizations, business
community all those things they've been good for me.
Serving the people has been very, very rewarding for me
over the years. I'm most grateful to be in a position
where I can help influence things for the better and I'd
like to think we've been able to make a difference."
Another of the Mayor and Carlene's favorite pastimes is
playing with their four grandchildren: Payten, eight;
Jack, five; Cole, two; and Eli, eight months old. "I think
he's enjoying them more than he enjoyed his own children,"
smiles Carlene. Kelley's beaming smile at his earlier
mention of the youngsters affirms her sentiments.
His home life is based around long standing family
traditions that add comfort in a busy world; traditional
Thanksgiving meals and Christmases spiced with the scent
of a fresh Christmas tree are part of the convention that
makes home a haven for the busy statesman.
Carlene has been able to use her education not only in
maintaining her home but also in her career of the past 17
years as Food Service Supervisor for the Huntingdon School
System. "I love to cook and I love my work," she says,
recalling that even as a high school student in
Whitehaven, she was a cashier at the elementary school
lunchroom.
"I just think the Lord just works things like that out,"
says Carlene, who has been active in First Baptist Church
Bible study groups, choir, and youth groups since moving
to Huntingdon.
"We're very fortunate, very blessed, we're just really
thankful," she says.
The Kelley's oldest daughter, Amanda, is married to Burton
Edwards of Huntingdon. Meredith and husband Tommy Surber
reside in McKenzie and Cliff Kelley and wife Holly live in
Huntingdon. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
2002
Feature
Archives: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
2001
Feature
Archives: |
|
|
|
|
Phone (731) 352-3323 or
Fax (731) 352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
