People

Chris Fiske has been selected as the new fire chief of Tracy City. Fiske served for 12 years with the Lone Oak Volunteer Fire Department in Grundy County before joining the Tracy City Fire Department eight years ago. Prior to that, he was a member of the National Guard in Dunlap. Fiske has been...

Seth Miller has been selected as the new city recorder for the town of Unicoi. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from East Tennessee State University. He is also currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. 

Gary Disheroon, former municipal judge for the city of Red Bank, died Feb. 22, 2025 at the age of 74. Disheroon served as Red Bank’s city judge for 18 years beginning in 1988. A graduate of Chattanooga High School, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Memphis Law School, Disheroon also...

Don Fox, former mayor of Lebanon, died Feb. 21, 2025, at the age of 86. Fox served as mayor of Lebanon for 15 years from 1994 to 2008. During his tenure as mayor, the former Castle Heights Military Academy was turned into Lebanon’s new city hall, the Hartmann Drive interchange was built, the...

Randy Evans, police chief for the city of Cookeville, has retired from his role after more than 40 years with the Cookeville Police Department. Evans joined CPD as a patrol officer in 1983. He was promoted to sergeant in 1990, lieutenant in 1998, captain in 2007, major in 2010, and chief in 2013. He...

Jenni Nisewander has been appointed to serve as the finance director designee for the city of Cookeville in preparation for the upcoming retirement of long-time Finance Director Brenda Imel. Nisewander will work closely with Imel during the coming months to ensure a seamless shift in leadership...

Patricia “Pat” Vander Schaaf, former Memphis city councilmember, died Dec. 30, 2024 in Brownsville at the age of 81. Born in Trenton, N.J., she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in business administration from Rider College. She moved to Memphis in 1966 and began a long career in...

Michael Timme, longtime director of administration for TACIR, died Feb. 7, 2025, at home following a briefly battle with glioblastoma, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. 

Timme had recently celebrated 35 years of service to the state of Tennessee, serving as director of administration for...

Janet Middleton has retired as city recorder of East Ridge after nearly three decades of service. Middleton began her work with the city as an administrative assistant in 1995. She came to the city from Alpha Medical, Inc., where she had worked as an executive secretary. In 1998, she was certified...

Billy Ray Helton, former vice mayor of Lawrenceburg, died Feb. 1, 2025, at the age of 86 from injuries sustained in an automobile crash. A Lawrecenburg native, Helton served as a commissioner of finance and as former vice mayor of Lawrenceburg. He also was past president and CEO of Lawrenceburg...

Mark Carter has been selected as the new assistant chief of fire administration for Collierville Fire and Rescue following the retirement of Mark King. Carter began his career in emergency services as a firefighter and paramedic for the Germantown Fire Department from 1987 to 1991 and then as EMS...

Curtis Halford, the former State House Representative who served District 79 from 2009 to 2023, died Jan. 24, 2025 at the age of 81. Prior to his service in the General Assembly, Halford served as a Gibson County commissioner and as the public works superintendent for the city of Dyer. A veteran of...