Tim Garrett is a lifelong resident of Goodlettsville. Born March 19, 1951 and raised on Hollywood Street, Tim attended Goodlettsville Elementary School and Goodlettsville Middle School before heading to Castle Heights Military School in Lebanon. During summer breaks and holidays he worked at Cole & Garrett Funeral Home, a business that has been in his family for five generations. “I’ve been on the Cole & Garrett payroll since I was nine,” recalls Tim, who started each day sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms. During his high school and college years, Tim’s role in the business expanded. In fact, during summers and breaks, he actually lived at the funeral home. “I was on call 24 hours a day and did whatever was needed, including helping out on ambulance runs,” he says. “I rode in the back with the person we were taking to the hospital. I bet I delivered more than a dozen babies during those years!”
After earning a B.S. in business from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and an AA in mortuary science from John A. Gupton Mortuary College in Nashville, Tim returned to Goodlettsville where he worked as a licensed embalmer and funeral director for the family business. Eventually, he became owner of the company and guided it through a period of expansion. At its peak, Tim was managing funeral homes and cemeteries in Joelton, Hendersonville, Goodlettsville and Mt. Juliet. After selling the business to a group of investors in 1995, Tim continued as its president until 2003. Today, Tim works as a funeral director and licensed embalmer at Cole & Garrett in Goodlettsville and is partner in Anderson & Garrett Funeral Home in Joelton.
Tim’s political career began in 1983 when he won a seat representing the Goodlettsville area on Metro Council. “Running a growing business, being active in the community and raising a family weren’t enough,” he laughs. “I just had too much energy and needed something else to do.” In 1984 during his first term in Metro Council, Tim, then just 33, was helping a group of community leaders recruit candidates for the upcoming statehouse race. “Our goal was to convince some of the 50-something folks to run,” he remembers. But his recruitment targets had something else in mind. “One day I end up in a meeting and the 15 people I was trying to recruit ended up recruiting me.”
Even though he hadn’t been to the statehouse since a field trip in the 4th grade, Garrett jumped at the chance and won the right to represent the 50th district. When he began his first term in 1984, Tim was one of the youngest people ever to win election to the Tennessee State House of Representatives. Serving concurrent terms as Metro Councilman and State Representative, Tim became known as an effective, responsive and proactive leader.
Tim and his wife, Theresa, have three children, Matt Garrett, Macy Garrett and Rachel Stutts, and one grandchild, Seth Garrett. In his spare time, Tim enjoys baseball, hunting, dancing, cooking and spending time with his family.