OBIT: Mr. Paul Hackett, Age 76 Of Tanglewood
Mr. Paul Hackett,
Banking was central to the working life and legacy of Citizens Bank President Paul E. Hackett who passed peacefully from this life Friday morning March 31, 2017. Death came at 2:08 a.m. and he was at his Morris Drive home with his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
He was pronounced deceased at 3:31 a.m. by Gentiva Hospice who had assisted the family in caring for him since being diagnosed with cancer on June 1st of 2016.
Funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home were conducted Sunday afternoon April 2nd at 3 p.m. from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home. His pastor, Eld. Charles Allen Gentry and his associate pastor Bro. Zary Shealy officiated. Mr. Hackett’s longtime protégé in the banking industry Walter Glenn Birdwell Jr. delivered a eulogy along with Mr. Hackett’s granddaughter Elizabeth. Following the services burial was in the Hackett family lot in the Garden of Gethsemane at Smith County Memorial Gardens with Bro. Jimmy Gregory officiating.
One of four children, he was born Paul Edward Hackett on August 3, 1940 on the Smith Branch Road in the Four-Way Inn Community and was the son of the late James Ulyes “J.U.” Hackett who died at the age of 91 years and 8 months on September 28, 1998 and Grady Ford Lankford Hackett who died at the age of 91 years and 7 months on October 5, 2001.
An infant brother Billie Kenneth Hackett died at the age of 2 weeks old on December 10, 1932.
Mr. Hackett was a member of the 1958 graduating class of Smith County High School where he majored in Social Studies and as # 50, was a member of the Owls football team which won the Hartsville Tobacco Bowl in 1957 defeating Madison 27 to 21. He was also a member of the Latin and Science Club and a member of the athletic “C” Club.
On July 9, 1960 at the home of the late Eld. Kenneth Gibbs he was united in marriage to Enigma Community native, the former Frances McDonald.
He was saved at the age of 12 in 1952 and was baptized into the full fellowship of the Monoville Baptist Church and in 1962 he transferred by letter his membership to the North Carthage Baptist Church where he continued to serve as a church trustee until his death.
A community minded gentleman with a volunteer spirit, he served as chairman of the Smith County Industrial Board, was a charter member of the Smith County Fire Department in 1977, a longtime member of the Carthage Fire Department from 1968 until 1995, the Smith County Rescue Squad where he also served as president and later treasurer, was a charter member and treasurer of the Smith County 911 board of directors, was a charter member and past President of the South Carthage Civitan Club and was still a member emeritus.
His banking career with Citizens Bank began on July 1, 1963 with the Citizens Bank in Carthage and he became President and Chief Executive Officer in 1984. The bank has expanded to include offices in Cookeville and Sparta and branches in Carthage, South Carthage and Gordonsville.
He enjoyed hunting and fishing and was a former member of the Smith County Sportsman’s Club. As a respite from banking he and Mr. Birdwell did a lot of hunting and fishing together also.
Mr. Hackett was a graduate of the Vanderbilt School of Banking in Nashville and the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Banking located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Surviving in addition to his wife of almost fifty eight years is their daughter, Martha Holladay and husband Ricky of Gordonsville; granddaughter, Elizabeth Rockwell and husband Patrick and their daughter Carolyn Grace Rockwell of Brentwood; sisters, Mary Woodard and husband Billy of Nashville, Linda McDonald and husband L. B. of Carthage; and his mother-in-law, Christine McDonald of Carthage who died just a little over a month shy of her 99th birthday on Saturday morning April 1st after Paul had died March 31st.
The Hackett family requests memorials to the Jordan Hackett Foundation.
SANDERSON of CARTHAGE
