Mr. Dan Batey passed away at home in Williamsport, Tennessee on Wednesday, July 27th, he was 64 years old.
Growing up an intelligent, but impatient child, Dan couldn’t wait to get where he was going. The day he was scheduled to arrive on The University of Tennessee’s campus, he was so excited he headed for Knoxville in the middle of the night, arriving around dawn. He must have known good things were on the horizon.
At UT, he found a rowdy group of friends and an outlet for his boundless creativity at the school newspaper, UT Daily Beacon, where he regularly published his commentary on the Volunteers and the world at large as the paper’s editorial cartoonist. He also wrote and illustrated two bitingly funny books, One More For The Hill and Return of the Alumni, which are no longer in print but can be found on the bookshelves of his many admirers.
He used his newspaper chops as he ventured out into the working world, first at United Press International and then as the youngest newspaper Editor in chief in the state at The Daily Herald. It was the job at The Herald that led him to meet his wife, Anne, when she came in looking to pitch a story about the Girl Scouts. The story ran on the front page the next day, lack of news value be damned.
In 1986, the two married just a year after their first meeting and soon had their two children, Laura and Will. Dan spent the next twenty years raising babies, helming his own public relations company and fixing things around town he thought could be improved. One such special project was his contribution to the redesign and years-long lobbying campaign to have Columbia Central High School rebuilt. The new school finally opened in 2018, and Dan took great pride in driving both locals and out-of-towners by the building for impromptu viewing sessions.
Since 2007, Dan has been the Vice President of Corporate Communications at Tennessee Farm Bureau Insurance where he has loved producing both funny and touching advertising campaigns with his many talented colleagues. He considered those on his team his extended family and was grateful for the work they created together.
He wasn’t a man to shy away from a stage. Dan volunteered to play Anne’s saxophone in the UT alumni band at homecoming (twice), despite never having any formal training. He enjoyed telling his children about a high school play in which he jumped on top of a piano and danced in his sock feet. When Laura was young, he often made a show twirling her up and down the aisles at restaurants to applause from surprised fellow patrons.
Many, himself included, considered Dan to be the best cook they ever saw. He fried the finest fried chicken, and on special occasions served country ham his guests would talk about for weeks. When his adult children would come home to visit, they would wait expectantly for him to wake up and make “dippy eggs.” Earlier this month, he canned fresh peaches he intended to use in cobbler this holiday season.
He was happiest when he was building something with or for the people he loved. He drew and built a screened porch on their home, just because he knew Anne would love it. He taught Will to plumb a sink when he was still in diapers and coached him to follow in his footsteps to three-peat victories in the Pinewood Derby. When Laura was around 10, he installed full length mirrors and a ballet barre in her room so she could spend more time dancing. He worked to give everyone around him the confidence to build the life they deserved on their own terms.
Missing him dearly are his wife Anne, his daughter Laura and her husband Raul, his son Will and his wife Ashton, his mother Pat, his sister Twila and countless friends, mentees, advisors and drinking buddies.
He was preceded in death by his father, Dan, in 2019.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 31, 2022 at 4:00 PM in the chapel of Heritage Funeral Home with close friends Jim Nesbitt, David Mould and Brooke Duncan speaking. The family will visit with friends on Sunday from 2:00 PM until the 4:00 PM service hour.
Heritage Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. https://www.tnfunerals.com
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you just love on those around you and create something beautiful wherever you are.
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