The Family

Family has always been the foundation of Whitt's decisions.

Whitt and his wife Dorothy Templin Shuford have been married for 25 years. Dorothy is a 1985 graduate of Powell Valley High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Lincoln Memorial University, a master's from Middle Tennessee State University, and an Education Specialist degree back at LMU. She spent her career in the Claiborne County school system, where she served as the 504 Director and the Special Education Director before retiring, giving years to making sure every child in this county got what they needed to learn.

Together they raised two children here, and the family keeps growing.

Their daughter, Whittlee Ray, is a graduate of Cumberland Gap High School, where she was a cheerleader for the Panthers.

She went on to the University of Tennessee, graduating in May with a bachelor's degree in psychology, the fourth generation of the family to bring home a Tennessee degree. She has begun her master's program in psychology at Lincoln Memorial University, works for Amedisys, and lives in Knoxville.

Their son Jackson is a graduate of the Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy at Walters State Community College. He's married to Dr. Victoria Shamblin (Tori), who graduated in the first veterinary class at Lincoln Memorial University, right here in Claiborne County. They live in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where Jackson works for Winchester Kubota and Tori is part owner of Shenandoah Veterinary Hospital.

Jackson and Tori have one son, Duke David, three years old and named for Tori's grandfather Duke and for Whitt, whose first name, not everybody knows, is David. And this December, Duke David becomes a big brother: the family is expecting another boy.

Whitt has followed in his family's footsteps of farming and community service, and those footsteps run deep in Claiborne County.

His father, Ron Shuford, served in the military before coming home to Claiborne County. He went on to run his own small businesses in the county, a carpet store and a concrete ready-mix company, and also served as vocational school director for the school system. He held an education degree from the University of Tennessee. It was Ron who started the little league here, and Whitt carried it on, coaching for years and serving as president of the league. The two of them played golf together regularly.

His mother, Elizabeth Fugate, served as a Claiborne County Commissioner for 20 years. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Tennessee and worked as a supervisor in the Claiborne County Schools, where she started programs across the county that have outlasted her time there: among them the Alpha School, a preschool program to help make sure kids are ready for kindergarten.

His grandmother, Ruth Fugate, was Nanny to Whitt and to many others in the county who felt like she was their grandmother too. She earned a master's in education from the University of Tennessee and worked in the Middlesboro School System for ten years before retiring from the Claiborne County School System. She also managed the farm alongside Whitt for years, and lived to 101 before her death in 2020.

Farming, the schools, the Commission, the ballfield: three generations of the same family showing up for the same county. That's the foundation everything else was built on, and it's the one Whitt is running on.

More of Whitt's story in the weeks ahead.