Boating Officer Tommy Alexander Retires from TWRA

After twenty three years with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tommy Alexander has retired.
The former school teacher turned TWRA boating officer appeared on WJLE with his fellow TWRA officer Tony Cross Monday morning to talk about his years with the agency, why he is retiring, and what lies ahead for him. “When you reach a certain age the (TWRA) officers can’t work out in the field anymore,” said Alexander. ” I’ve reached that age so they said it was time for me to go. They didn’t have to push me out the door. I was heading that way already. Its been a pretty good ride. Its been interesting. Its been fun. There’s been some heartache but overall its been a good experience,” he said.
Asked how he got involved with the TWRA, Alexander said “I kind of fell into it really. I was teaching school next to (former school teacher)Linda Franklin (wife of former TWRA officer Ben Franklin). They were going to hire a boating officer and they were really looking for someone who wasn’t going to be moving on to somewhere else after being trained. School teachers are kind of that way. They don’t tend to move around a whole lot so I guess I was kind of what they were looking for. So I was hired as a boating officer,” he said.
Alexander said the job has been rewarding and interesting. “I’ve met a lot of people and run into a lot of characters. Our county has some very colorful people. I’ve worked things like security for a Sylvester Stallone movie. I wasn’t in the film and my name didn’t scroll across the screen in the credits but we had to do a little security work for that.” he said
“On the average during the twenty three years, Its been a very safe lake and a good place to work. There’s not been a whole lot of problems but this past year has been unbelievable with the problems we’ve had (drownings and accidents). Its so sad with so many lives lost. This is not what I was looking for on my way out,” said Alexander.
Alexander said he plans to remain active in his retirement. “I’m going to play a little golf and pittle around. I’ve got plenty to do. I ‘ve got a lot of family that can fix my schedule up for me. My wife is pretty good about this stuff,” he said
TWRA officer Cross praised Alexander for his service to the agency and this community. “Tommy has been great to work with over all these years. He actually started the same summer that I started. I started part time in 1988 and have worked with Tommy for a lot of years here on Center Hill Lake. Any time you ever called him, day or night, if you needed anything he would come to help. We’re going to miss him. He was a great officer and as dependable as anybody could ever be. But if I want to find him, I know where to go. The golf course is not far away,” said Cross.