Tony DeName
Thomas Anthony “Tony” DeName was born June 8, 1949 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the son of Carmine “Johnny” DeName and Lillie Frances Thomas. Tony’s parents met and married when Johnny, a soldier and native of New York City, came to Cadiz on leave from nearby Fort Campbell. Tony had two sisters, Vicki Louise Godwin and Cindy Frances Long.
He graduated from Trigg County High School in 1967 and from Murray State University. While in school, Tony worked part-time at radio station WKDZ where he worked with Wanda Calhoun. The two married August 18, 1970. Wanda was the daughter of Roscoe Calhoun and Thelma Brown Bridges. Tony and Wanda had one child, Bridger Ann DeName Bright.
After college, Tony began his career with the Commonwealth of Kentucky in its Hopkinsville employment office, later transferring to the Pennyrile Area Development District. He commuted daily to Hopkinsville continuing to reside in Cadiz where he was very active in local civic and political matters. Throughout the 1970s, he was in the local Jaycees, serving on its board of directors and receiving its Key Man Award in 1971. In 1972, he was elected as the president of the Cadiz Trigg Jaycees. In 1976, when fire destroyed neighbors’ homes, Tony helped organize the Montgomery Volunteer Fire Department. In 1979, County Judge Cossey named him to the Trigg County Hospital Board. In 1982, he was appointed to the new Trigg County Industrial Development Authority.
In 1984, Tony left public employment to purchase Cadiz Motor Company, the local Ford dealership which he operated until 1991. In 1986, the county judge, Cossey, named him as his deputy county judge executive, citing Tony’s successes in securing federal grant programs and the need for experienced leadership when the judge was absent from the county. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Tony was involved with the Cadiz Rotary Club chairing its youth services committee. In 1987, he served as president of the Cadiz-Trigg County Chamber of Commerce.
In 1992, Tony returned to public service in the field of his expertise—employment services. Tony and Wanda moved to Frankfort for an appointment by Governor Bereton C. Jones, as the director of the state’s Division of Unemployment Insurance. He later served as the manager of the Kentucky Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Tony had a lifelong love of music, playing multiple instruments (bass horn, sousaphone and tuba) in his high school band. In the 1970s, he was an organizer and played guitar and string bass for “The Amusement Company”, a local band that played for dances on weekends throughout Western Kentucky and Northwest Tennessee for nearly 20 years.
Tony valiantly fought cancer but died on September 21, 2017 at the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. He is buried in East End Cemetery in Cadiz.
A young Tony DeName
Wanda and Tony DeName
Tony working at Radio Station WKDZ
Tony DeName tombstone
Lineage: (Thomas Anthony DeName was the son of Carmine Anthony and Lillie Frances Thomas DeName. Lillie Frances was the only child of Cordie Gilbert and Mina Louise Wallis. Cordie Gilbert was the son of Stanley Dyer and Willie Hite Thomas and grandson of William Henry and Sidney Dyer Thomas. William Henry was the second son of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
(Thanks to Dan Thomas who helped to contribute to this “leaf”.)
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