Community
June 10, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
About 80 graduates of the Town’s Introduction to Farragut Class from the past 12 years gathered to mingle, dine and learn a little more about their town during a reunion Wednesday evening, June 3, in Farragut Community Center.
“This is our first-ever graduate reception,” Town administrator David Smoak said. “Our first class was back in 2013, and when this class started, we had this alderman named Ron Honken.
“We were talking about this class because he had gone to Leadership Knoxville, and I had a leadership program before I came [to Farragut],” Smoak said. “He said, ‘You know, this would be a great thing for you to do.’
“This has been absolutely fantastic to have the community learn more about the community you live in and work in … but also to give back to the community,” the administrator said. “Last year, Ron’s son Reed [Honken] graduated from our class.
“It’s been great to see so many friendly faces and familiar faces,” Smoak said. “We’ve had 183 graduates of the Intro to Farragut program. Truly, it’s been just a reward and honor to have each of you come through the class, get to know you a little better during that time, and also have go back into the community and tell the great things that you learned.”
“This class, in 2015 for me, was kind of an eye-opener because I had been around other municipalities but not one quite like this one in the way it operates,” said Mayor Ron Williams, a 2015 Intro graduate. “It’s unique, and I guess you all have seen that when we go through the budget and meet all the people who run our Town, as far as the department heads.
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June 10, 2026 by Jake Nichols
Helen Mabry Connor moved gingerly through the doorway, spotting a familiar face on the other side.
“Oh look, I believe I know that girl,” said Connor, who smiled as she gazed upon a black-and-white photo of herself as a teenager. “That’s a long time ago.”
But even with the passage of time, the smile and facial features remained the very same for Connor, who turned 100 years old on Monday, June 2.
On the previous Saturday, May 30, more than 70 of her relatives gathered at the Connor Lobby — named for Connor’s eldest son Mike and his family — near the St. Gregory the Great Auditorium at Knoxville Catholic High School.
For hours, they celebrated Connor’s century mark with cake, balloons, a slideshow, a banner and even a serenade.
“This has been a year in the making,” said Christy Watkins, Helen Connor’s youngest daughter, of the party.
The Knoxville Catholic aspect just happened to work out since their previous venue had been booked. But it provided a fitting twist for the birthday girl, a 1945 KCHS graduate whose picture now resides along every other senior portrait in the school lobby.
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June 10, 2026 by Tammy Cheek
Traveling through time and saving history — three middle-grade youngsters find adventure while searching for their missing dad.
That is the plot behind “Paladins of the Sacred Line — Book One: Siege of Boston,” co-authored by Tim Holder, a West Knoxville historian, speaker and radio show host, and MB Mooney of Georgia, who joined up to bring adventure in history for middle school-aged youth.
Holder said he met Mooney at a writer’s conference.
“He said, ‘We should write a book together because we both have a history background,’” Holder said. “I’m a history professor, and he taught history in middle school.”
“His idea was ‘let’s write a book for middle school readers, and we’ll do like a time travel series and we’ll have kids in the story go back and meet historical figures,’” Mooney told Holder.
The two collaborated long distance to write the book. They started their endeavor about five or six years ago and finished it about two or three years ago.
“And then, we were looking at publishing options,” Holder said. “A publisher picked us up last year. It just came out in April.”
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June 10, 2026 by Staff Reports
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND – Nathan Reczek of Farragut has successfully completed four years of challenging academic, physical and professional military training, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy with
a Bachelor of Science degree in data science and a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in
the U.S. Marine Corps.
Reczek, son of Michael Reczek, is a graduate of Farragut High School. At the academy, Reczek was a member of the 27th Company.
Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy “is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service,” a press release stated. “More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the United States and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen.
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