Gene Talley 1971-1974

I have been actively planning along with Barry White, Sandra Perry Stuermer and Kathy Farmer Ratz on each 5th anniversary of our graduation from Central. I have been living mostly in the Chattanooga area since I graduated from high school and also own a condo in Freeport Bahamas which was destroyed by last year's hurricane but in the process of being rebuilt.

Changed my major between HS graduation and the fall of ’74, I decided that I wanted to major in mechanical engineering at TTU. The courses were a struggle since I did not take physics, chemistry or calculus in high school but I managed to graduate and now work at Arnold AFB in middle TN. This is a great place to work since we test military and commercial aircraft engines or components in our test cells or wind tunnel. I am a civilian employee but benefit from training offsite which has led me to Seattle and Washington DC for training classes. I have worked at Arnold for nine years and God has blessed me with safe travel between my home in Hixson and my job of which the round trip commute is 160 miles.

This work falls in line with one of my hobbies as a private pilot and I earned my pilot’s license in June of ’79.

I am blessed with a daughter and son - my daughter is a sophomore in college and my son is a freshman in college and both attend school in Chattanooga.

Central Baptist Church of Hixson is where I attend and have been a member of since 1984. I was ordained as a deacon in August of 2005.