January 18, 2017
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
It’s not a picket fence.
However, it is a long bright white three-board vinyl horse fence that outlines the Young family’s countryside property on the outskirts of Lascassas.
At the end of the driveway sits a quintessential two-story farmhouse that Coy and his wife Jennifer call home. It’s everything the couple ever wanted — a peaceful place outside of town.
Some might even say, it’s a picturesque setting.
It’s the rural lifestyle Rutherford County has long been known for.
“I came here because I liked the rural life,” said Young, who grew up nearby. “And Lascassas is about the last place in Rutherford County, well, it’s the slowest growing and we were always looking for acreage out this way. We found this place and thought it was a great place to raise a family.”
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You don’t end up in rural Rutherford County by accident.
Young grew up attending Walter Hill Elementary School and graduated from Oakland High School in 1983. His parents — Horace and Martha — raised Coy and his sister in the country.
He’s been drawn to the quiet life, as he calls it, for as long as he can remember.
Both of his grandparents had farms.
Back then, they had hogs and dairy cows, and so he spent his summer vacations hauling hay and milking cows. Every day they would drive to town — Murfreesboro’s population was a shade over 26,000 in 1970s — and sell fresh milk at the market.
That doesn’t happen anymore.
As a matter of fact, a lot of things have changed since then.
Coy and Jennifer Henry married a year after he graduated from high school. It’ll be 33 years later this year. They have two children — Jonathan, 25, and Sara Beth, 21.
Jonathan is married and works for Nissan. His wife is a nurse. Sara Beth is in her last year of college at Middle Tennessee State University. She plans to study another couple years after that and eventually become a physician’s assistant.
Like Coy, Jennifer liked the outdoors.
She raised goats and sheep and kept horses. In fact, a love for horses is what brought the couple together and led them to buying their farmhouse.
“At the time, I had horses, she had horses,” Coy recalled, “and we liked to go trail riding.”
Coy never thought he could make living farming.
A farmer needed more land, more cattle and pretty much more of everything compared to what he and Jennifer had at their place on Barlow Lane, which is five miles past Oakland High School off of State Highway 96.
For years, Young worked for Johnson Controls Automotive.
They provided seats to Nissan and Young was one of their longest serving employees until they downsized in 2008.
“I had to make a decision of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” he said. “This is what I came up with.”
This being Lascassas Feed Supply.
He opened the feed store seven years ago. It specializes in animal feeds, premium pet foods and various farm supplies.
His in-laws had been small business owners too. They had owned and operated Henry Drugs, where Jennifer’s dad worked as a pharmacist.
Like his wife, Coy wanted their children to experience what it was like to be connected to a small business.
“We were able to teach them some life lessons,” Coy said of his now two grown children, and so it comes as no surprise that as a school board member, he added, “I will always support career and technical education. It’s near and dear to my heart.”
Feed customers are loyal and not easily swayed to shop elsewhere.
Young’s own small business is about “providing a quality product.”
The realization of Young’s longtime dream was when he was approached by a friend, who happened to be a sales rep for Nutrena. They were looking for a store in the Lascassas area, but Young was initially skeptical.
He thought he needed to find another plot of land on one of the main corridors leading into town. After all, their place is a half-mile down Barlow Lane and not even visible from Highway 96.
“He said, ‘No,’” Young recalled of the conversation with his friend, who added, “If you build it, they will come to you.”
Young said, “We just went out on a limb and did it.”
Decades after giving his wife a beautiful house with a white fence, he gave himself his own business. He doesn’t have a long commute. He and their dog Remi wake up and simply walk next door every morning at 8 a.m.
They’re open until 6 p.m.
He’s almost never late for dinner.
Sometimes customers, or nowadays, concerned parents come by to talk and those conversations can last an hour or two past closing time, but Young said, “That’s part of the business and you learn to expect that.”
However, he never expected to run for any type of elected office.
In fact, the first time he was approached about running for the school board, Young turned them down.
He and Jennifer had just opened the store and their focus was on establishing their business. That was one of the many life lessons his children learned about being dedicated small business owners.
He was approached a second time. This time he said yes.
Young campaigned and won a seat on the school board in 2012 and again in August 2016.
“That was another leap of faith I took,” Young said. “It’s a lot bigger system then I ever envisioned. It’s a huge business.”
For the first year, he did a lot of listening and learning.
He talked with former member Donald Jernigan as well as Tim Tackett. He befriended fellow members Wayne Blair and Terry Hodge and sought their insight on various issues. Young said he often talked with Director of Schools Don Odom, and explained, “He and I go to church together.”
Young noted the working relationship among board members and mutual respect they have for one another. While they might not always agree 100 percent, he said, ultimately they come together at the end of the day to serve the students of Rutherford County Schools.
He has a good relationship with the county commission too.
Like Blair, Hodge, Jim Estes and Jeff Jordan, Young grew up with a lot of them, including Will Jordan.
In his second year, Young came to feel comfortable in his role with the seven-member board.
He views himself as bringing a blue collar perspective.
“I’m really comfortable in saying our board is really focused on getting rid of these portables,” Young said of the mobile trailers used as classrooms at several schools that have overcrowding issues. “We want to get out of the portable business and get our kids back in the classrooms.”
He noted the recent opening of the brand new John Colemon Elementary School, which “brought them all back under one roof.”
Young added, “We live in a time, especially here in Rutherford County, where we can afford to put our kids in good classrooms.”
In August, Rutherford County Schools will open the new Rocky Fork Middle School.
The need for Rocky Fork and several others on the latest five-year building plan has to do with the continued growth in Rutherford County that has resulted in an increase of upwards of 1,300 students year over year.
“Don Odom has been very instrumental in helping us stay ahead of that,” said Young, who also noted Shane Morgan’s help. Morgan is the coordinator of enrollment forecasting and boundary planning.
“There are good people with experience helping the board and the district stay ahead of that curve.”
Young also said Odom and others within the central office as well as school administrators have done a great job of fostering relationships with local industries and the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.
“I like being a voice for our area, our community — knowing someone will stand up for the working class people,” Young said. “I just think that’s what this country was built on—small businesses. … I still think we need a few mom-and-pop shops around that help hold the community together.”
He added, “I want our kids to be everything from a medical doctor to the kid who is supposed to learn a trade and go out there and start his own business. I want us to be preparing each and every one of those students to be successful."
PHOTO: JAMES EVANS