yesterday's tennessee

Carl W. Partin

By Lillye Younger, Sun Correspondent

He's Not On Shelf Just Yet

PARSONS — In 1956 Carl W. Partin of Parsons quit the hardware business after 48 years .A year later a local businessman enlisted his help in setting up a hardware firm. And today 12 years after his "retirement" he is still active in the business.

Mr. Partin began his career in 1908 when as a lad be helped his father, George W. Partin, run a hardware store. Upon his father's death, he assumed operations.

On April 25, 1958, he celebrated his fiftieth year in the hardware field and was presented a 14 karat gold-plated hammer by an Illinois hardware company in honor of the occasion.

His father opened the first postoffice at what is now the Bear Creek Community in the late 1800s, giving rise to Partinville.

The post office was moved to the nearby Parsons Community after railroad was built through the area. Carl Partin was born Aug. 24, 1891, the second child to be born in Parsons.

Partin, besides heading a hardware firm, also has been a political leader. He served two consecutive two-year terms as mayor of Parsons beginning in 1923.
He was chosen delegate to three Republican National Conventions — in Chicago when Theodore Roosevelt was nominated on the "Bull Moose" ticket, in Philadelphia when Thomas A. Dewey was nominated and again in Chicago when Dwight Eisenhower was nominated.

Partin is presently a member of the Republican Decatur County Election Commission.

He is the oldest member of the Parsons Lions Club and has the second oldest membership in the First Baptist Church at Parsons.

He works only six hours each day at his new hardware job, but this does not indicate he has slowed his activities. I'm very active and enjoy a good baseball game and picture show," he says. "I go anywhere I want to. I'm not on the shelf yet."

He and his wife, the former Miss Mary Wood, reside at 224 West Main Street in Parsons. They have a daughter, Mrs. Doris Crane of Waverly. Mr. Partin is a graduate of Parsons Academy and received a general education degree from Ruskin Cave College near Nashville in 1913.