Fearless, rational, fair, faithful … The Town of Farragut lost Mr. Clifton “Gene” McNalley Sr., 91, a Town founder Monday, Sept. 29, but he remains remembered. “(Mr. McNalley) was such a good man,” said Marianne McGill, wife of the late Mayor Ralph McGill and a former alderman in the early years. “We couldn’t say enough about him. He was loyal, good, faithful.” Born March 1934, in Morristown, Mr. McNalley was a U.S. Army veteran, serving in the ASA Division in West Germany, where he met his wife, Eva. According to his obituary, after returning to Tennessee, Mr. McNalley joined the Tennessee Highway Patrol, moving up in rank to captain, and, in the meantime, earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice technology and worked to strengthen the drunk driving laws and safety regulations. He retired in 1990. In 1979, Mr. McNalley and Eva, were living in Kingsgate subdivision, when he was chosen as the subdivision’s homeowners association leader to fight against a dangerous road through the subdivision. That fight led to a larger battle, trying to incorporate the Town. While the Farragut Committee Group worked to get the Town incorporated, “he did a lot of leg work for us, working with officials and just anything you asked him to do,” Marianne recalled. “He knew everybody downtown, and the stories he used to tell us kept us laughing, kept us going. “He pretty much did some things I didn’t even find out about until probably two years ago,” she said. “We had a lot of threats during that time we were trying to incorporate. People were calling, threatening and following us home, that kind of thing.”
Read MoreHurricane Cycles is sharing space with a new business, The Reef Coffee Shop, in the building at 138 West End Ave., in West End Center. When Hurricane Cycles owner Andrew Ingram first opened his cycle shop in October 2023, he said, “this space here was too good not to do something with it. “A coffee shop was, by far, the favorite of the options,” he said. So, Ingram recently opened The Reef, a business separate from Hurricane Cycles but in the same space. While now open, he said Tuesday, Dec. 2, will be its grand opening. “It’s been incredible,” Ingram said. “The bike shop has absolutely thrived. It’s been an unbelievable experience getting to serve the community here. Very positive. “The success of the bike shop is what’s allowed us to launch the coffee shop,” his second business, he said. “Now, we’re adding more options to serve the Farragut community,” he added. Since the infrastructure already was in the space, “we had the stuff, we had the bar … it allowed us a lot easier runway to building a coffee shop,” Ingram added. Customers’ feedback has been “five-star reviews so far,” he said.
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