Taylor Funeral Home

Obituaries
John Douglas Baggett
Date of Death or Service Sep 15, 2016
John Douglas Baggett
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      Funeral services will be conducted Thursday afternoon, September 15, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. from the chapel of the Taylor Funeral Home. Tommy Marvin will give his eulogy. Place of rest will follow in the Dickson Union Cemetery with military honors. Visitation will be on Wednesday, September 14th from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. and on Thursday beginning at 11:00 a.m. until time of service.There will be a Masonic Service Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m.       
     Those desiring, memorials may be made to Disabled Veterans or to Alive Hospice.
      Mr. Baggett, age 86, of Dickson, TN died peacefully September 12, 2016 at his home with his family by his side. He was born January 3, 1930 in Sylvia, Tennessee. He was the second oldest child of Cage Dillard and Bertha Bell Richardson Baggett. His dad was a long time farmer and merchant in the Sylvia area of Dickson County, descended from well know Baggett families in Montgomery County. Bertha Bell Richardson Baggett descended from the John and Mary Lyle Richardson family equally well known in Dickson County. John was among ten brothers and sisters in the following birth order: Jack, John, Evelyn, Mable, James, Betty Ann, Raymond, O’Neal, Wanda and Donald. There are four surviving.
      Upon completion of John’s formal education in the Sylvia area, he found work in Chicago, Illinois, as a heavy equipment operator. At the outbreak of the Korean conflict, he enlisted with the U. S. Army on October 24, 1950. Following basic training, he was shipped with his unit, The 45th Infantry Division, 180th Regiment, K Company to Korea. Sergeant First Class John Baggett was a squad leader. While near Sokkogae, North Korea, John was wounded in action on June 12m, 1952. For his bravery shown during this event, he was awarded the Purple Heart. He was honorably discharges from the U. S .Army on October 25, 1952. Upon discharge, he became part of the U. S. Army Ready Reserves (Active Status).
      John married Gena Matt Redden on November 15, 1952. Gena was the daughter of Howard and Mary Redden, longtime residents of Dickson County. John and Gena had two daughters: Anita Lynn and Suzanne. Anita married Michael Burch and together they have two sons: John Michael Burch and Matthew Burch. Suzanne married Andy Downing and together they have two daughters: Anna Elizabeth Downing and Marlee Jean Downing.
      For a period of time following his discharge from the U. S. Army, John was employed by the K.F .Klein Company of Dickson. John then entered what was to become his twenty-six year career with the City of Dickson as a Law Enforcement Officer. Robert S. Clement was Mayor of Dickson at that time. Following the illness and death of Police Chief Herbert J. Register, John was appointed Chief of Police by Mayor Leland Ishmael. John served as Police Chief of Dickson for 22 years. He served under six mayors of the City of Dickson: Clement, Ishmael, Crosby, Weaver, Buckner, and Waychoff before retiring in 1983.
      In the City of Dickson and before his peers (The Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police), John earned the reputation of being a dedicated, brave, fair honest, and caring public servant. Though modest about his reputation, on act of bravery was recorded in the Dickson newspaper on Thursday, January 9, 1975. As two Sheriff’s Deputies were attempting to transfer a “passive” and un-handcuffed prisoner to the county jail, the prisoner seized the deputy’s gun, knocked him down, and was struggling to shoot him. By chance, an off duty and unarmed Chief Baggett came upon the scene, leaped into the fray, seized and jammed the assailant’s revolver with his right index finger. The assailant succeeded in pulling the trigger, and both hammer and firing pin fell upon Chief Baggett’s finger, punching a hole, but as jammed the weapon could not fire: it was wrestled away, the prisoner subdued and the Deputy’s life saved.
      Following the death of his first wife, Gena Matt, on June 1, 1986, John was remarried July 16, 1991 to Betty Jo Haddix Jennings, the widow of the late James Lewis Jennings, a Dickson Police Department Captain. Betty Jo was the third child of Herbert Hoover Haddix and Bertie Lee Spann Haddix , longtime residents of Dickson County. James Lewis Jennings was the father of two children by a previous marriage: Joyce Ann Jennings and James Darrell Jennings. Betty Jo raised Joyce and James. Children of James Darrell Jennings are Jordan Jennings and Jackson Lewis Jennings. James Lewis Jennings and Betty Jo were parent of one child, Ashlee Dawn Jennings, who was five years of age when her mother married John Baggett. John’s daughters, Anita (Title I aide) and Suzanne (third grade school teacher) along with Betty Jo’s daughter, Ashlee (secondary English teacher) are all employees with the Dickson County Board of Education.
      Following his retirement, John, a longtime sportsman and bird hunter, became a devotee of field trialing bird dogs in the National Shoot to Retrieve Association. On November 1, 2001, he gained wide recognition as an owner-trainer, when his champion pointer, Roy’s Lady, was ranked 5th in the nation during the Champion of Champions Trial at Amo, Indiana. At present time, John and his wife Betty live in the city of Dickson. Though retired, John remains as active citizen of Dickson. He currently acts as Road Commissioner for the 8th District. He was a fifty year member of the Dickson Masonic Lodge #468, a Shriner  and was a member of the American Legion.
      Survivors include his wife, Betty Jo Jennings Baggett; his children, Anita Lynn Burch and her husband, Mickey, Suzanne Baggett Downing and her husband, Andy; Ashlee Dawn Jennings, Joyce Ann Jennings and Jimmy Jennings and his wife, Sara; his eight grandchildren, John Michael Burch, Matthew Robert Burch, Jordan Lillian Jennings, Anna Elizabeth Downing, Amber Elizabeth Jennings, Marlee Jean Downing, Clarah Marie Jennings, and Jackson Lewis Jennings. His two great grandchildren, Ian Stone St. Amant, Sun Elliott Burch; his brothers, Donald Baggett and O’Neal Baggett; his sisters, Mable Baggett Porter and Wanda Baggett Glass; Several nieces and nephews.
      Active casket bearers, John Michael Burch, Matt Burch, David Fincher, Jimmy Jennings, Daniel Holley, Michael Turner, Jerry Smith and Dr. Tony Kimmons, Honorary will be Doug Gatlin, Gary Kimmons, George Dufty.
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